This Sept. 23, 2020, file photo shows the Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, where a coronavirus cluster has been reported. (Mainichi/Nami Takata)

       YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa -- Amid reports of coronavirus infection clusters at multiple U.S. military bases in Japan, including one with confirmed omicron variant cases in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, group infections were also reported near the end of 2021 at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Tokyo.

       Under the circumstances, a Japanese employee at the Yokosuka base spoke with the Mainichi Shimbun and shared his unease regarding the quarantine holes that U.S. bases create.

       "No matter how strongly border measures are enforced, it's like a bucket with a hole in it," said the man working at Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture. Employees had feared an infection cluster even prior to its outbreak.

       The employee said a notice reading "Those who have been vaccinated are not required to wear masks at this establishment," was posted at the military base. Instructions to use masks in indoor facilities were finally issued on Jan. 5, but prior to this, some American personnel reportedly walked around without them.

       "Even if the Japanese government strengthens border controls as part of omicron variant countermeasures, regardless of how great the lengths it goes to are, I thought the U.S. military would still create a hole in those defenses," the Japanese employee said.

       This fear became reality. On Dec. 30, 2021, the Yokosuka Naval Base announced that 75 base-affiliated people had been confirmed infected with the coronavirus since Dec. 23, 2021. A majority of those infected reportedly entered the country recently, and tested positive in airport quarantine inspections. The Yokosuka base has not disclosed if the individuals had the omicron variant.

       Because the U.S. military did not provide notice of the cluster case, the man found out about it on the news. He said that despite the cluster, there are no restrictions on outings. "(Base-affiliated personnel) have been entering Japan one after another. I'm worried the cluster isn't getting much attention, even though it occurred in Yokosuka, which is near the capital area," he said in disapproval of the overall lack of concern over the matter.

       On Dec. 30, the Yokosuka Municipal Government requested that the military base strengthen its infection prevention measures. The next day, the Kanagawa Prefectural Government filed an emergency request with the foreign minister and the defense minister, which asked them to implement restrictions on outings from the base and the enforcement of anti-transmission measures among base workers.

       Meanwhile, Yokosuka Mayor Katsuaki Kamiji said at a Jan. 4 press conference that the city "does not need to worry" about the possibility of infections among Japanese employees or community transmission like in other prefectures hosting U.S. bases. "For the past two years, we have cooperated with the base and discussed that the U.S. military will keep the situation completely under its control," he said.

       Bases in Okinawa Prefecture conduct quarantine checks of personnel when they land directly at those bases on military aircraft, in accordance with U.S. Forces rules. But a majority of those posted to Yokosuka enter Japan on civilian planes, meaning they must undergo airport quarantine inspections on arrival. Considering that they then ride U.S. military vehicles from the airport to the base, and individuals testing positive are isolated in an on-base hospital, a Yokosuka municipal official emphasized that "thorough measures are being taken."

       (Japanese original by Nami Takata, Yokohama Bureau, and Nobumichi Iwasaki, Yokosuka Local Bureau)

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