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Japan pays in asbestos suit of Kadena worker

NAHA, Japan — A Japanese Defense Ministry branch has paid about 22 million yen ($194,700) in compensation to the bereaved wife of a former worker at a Kadena Air Base who died of lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos while at work, her lawyer said Thursday.

The Okinawa Defense Bureau decided Oct. 3 to make the first damages payment for asbestos victims at the base in Okinawa under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, according to Takeshi Furukawa, the lawyer for the 62-year-old wife.

The former worker serviced boilers at Kadena between 1964 and 1996, and died in 2001. His death was officially recognized to be an industrial accident in 2006.

His wife then filed a 30 million-yen suit against the Okinawa bureau in December 2006, saying asbestos measures were insufficient at the U.S. base.

The bureau has admitted that the U.S. side and the Japanese government, which employs workers for U.S. bases in Japan, had neglected to take sufficient asbestos measures and paid compensation, the lawyer said.

Furukawa said the case is significant in that it will pave the way for numerous U.S. base workers in Okinawa to seek redress from courts for asbestos-induced illnesses. Thirteen cases of compensation have been paid to workers, or families of workers at Yokosuka Naval Base under the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement, he said.