Japan to pay $146 million for small island pegged to serve as Navy pilots’ training ground

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The owner of a small island off the coast of Kyushu has agreed to sell the property to Japan, which plans to turn it into a site for U.S naval aviators to practice carrier landings, the chief cabinet minister’s office announced Monday.

The Taston Airport development company agreed Friday to sell Mageshima, less than 30 miles from Kyushu, southernmost of the five main islands of Japan, to the government for about $146 million, according a press briefing by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga posted on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s website Monday.

The property owner, at the time in bankruptcy proceedings, had ended purchase negotiations in May.

“It is very important to build the permanent facility to facilitate the Field Carrier Landing Practice or FCLP, per the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty,” Suga said.

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