The Japanese government will begin magnetic surveys for unexploded ordnance at Naha Airport on Okinawa, Dec. 16, 2024. (Naha Airport)

NAHA, Okinawa — The Japanese government will begin magnetic surveys for unexploded ordnance at Okinawa’s main commercial airport next week.

The government began the surveys at Miyazaki Airport on Kyushu, the southernmost of the country’s four main islands, after a World War II-era bomb exploded in October.

A survey will begin Monday night at Naha Airport after all flights have arrived or departed, a spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said by phone Tuesday.

Contractors will conduct the surveys every night through March, focusing on the taxiway shoulders and the landing strips adjacent to them, the spokesman said.

Any ordnance found will be removed by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the spokesman said.

The magnetic survey at Naha Airport is part of a wider search of airports across Japan in response to a 500-pound, WWII-era device that exploded Oct. 2 at Miyazaki Airport.

Magnetic surveys began at Miyazaki in October and are expected to finish next month, a spokesman for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said last month. No ordnance has been found during these surveys so far.

Magnetic surveys at airports in Sendai, Matsuyama and Fukuoka will be carried out concurrently with the Naha surveys, the spokesman said.

Some Japanese officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

Crews disposed of nearly 22 tons of unexploded ordnance believed to be from WWII on Okinawa between April 1, 2023, and March 31.