The U.S. Marine Corps flew helicopters above an elementary school next to a U.S. air base in Okinawa on Thursday, despite having promised Japan it would try to avoid such flights after a window from a CH-53E chopper fell on the school grounds last month.
Japan's Defense Ministry noticed three helicopters flying over the Futenma No. 2 Elementary School in the afternoon, prompting it to lodge a protest with the U.S. military. Students had been on the playground shortly before the flights taking part in an evacuation drill in response to the falling window incident, which occurred on Dec. 13.
"It's deplorable that this has happened even though we've requested firmly that the U.S. not fly above the school," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference in Tokyo.