Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has decided to investigate whether there are more unexploded World War Two bombs at airports in Miyazaki and Naha. The airports, in Miyazaki and Okinawa prefectures, were built in areas where the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Navy had air bases.
This move comes after an unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by the US military during the war blew up at Miyazaki Airport on Wednesday.
The explosion occurred on a taxiway leading to a runway, opening a hole about one-meter-deep and scattering fragments of paved roads within a radius of about 200 meters.
Around 2 minutes before the blast, a Japan Airlines passenger plane carrying 93 people was passing through a taxiway at the site.
The bomb is believed to be one of many 250-kilogram bombs dropped by the US military during the war.
In addition to Miyazaki and Naha, airports across Japan are in areas where facilities of the former Japanese military existed. The ministry is considering whether to conduct further investigations regarding those locations.