An F-35B Lightning II lands during the Keen Sword exercise at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Oct. 31, 2024. (Madison Sharpe/U.S. Marine Corps)

Ten municipalities in western Japan are joining forces to protest low-altitude flights by U.S. military aircraft after recording a record high in noise measurements last year.

Aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, near Hiroshima, are “causing anxiety to the locals” by flying at low altitudes, a spokesman for Shimane prefecture’s Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division said by phone Tuesday.

“The number of flights is increasing, as is the anxiety of the locals,” he said.

The cities of Hamada, Masuda and Gotsu and the towns of Ohnan and Kawamoto in Shimane prefecture have agreed to work alongside the cities of Hatsukaichi, Miyoshi and Edajima, as well as the towns of Akiota and Kitahiroshima in Hiroshima prefecture, according to a spokesman for Hamada city.

Each prefecture has formed a Council for Countermeasures against U.S. Military Aircraft Noise, which will coordinate an annual request for reduced low-altitude training flights, the Hamada spokesman said by phone Tuesday. The first joint request is expected to be submitted later this year to Japan’s Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

Some Japanese government officials may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

MCAS Iwakuni did not immediately respond to questions emailed by Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.

In May, Hamada city Mayor Shoichi Kubota met with Hatsukaichi city Mayor Taro Matsumoto to discuss a joint response, according to the Hamada city spokesman.

“We also saw some reports saying that the U.S. military aircraft was conducting aerial refueling training over our city, and we are asking them to stop this, too,” he said.

Last year, Shimane prefecture recorded 2,090 instances of aircraft noise above 70 decibels — comparable to city traffic or a vacuum cleaner — at 13 locations throughout the five municipalities in the western part of the prefecture, according to the prefecture spokesman. The previous record was 2,076 instances in 2022.

Shimane has seen a gradual increase in aircraft noise since 2020, coinciding with the March 2018 relocation of Carrier Air Wing 5 from Naval Air Facility Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo, to MCAS Iwakuni, the spokesman said.

The wing, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, consists of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornets, and 1,900 personnel.