Akasaka Press Center (also known as Hardy Barracks and Azabu Heliport) is a facility of the

United States Army, Japan United States Army, Japan (USARJ) is a Major Command of the United States Army. It consists of operating port facilities and a series of logistics installations throughout Honshū and Okinawa. USARJ participates actively with the Japan Ground Se ...

located in the

Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It is ...

area of

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits th ...

. The facility occupies 3.1 hectares of land in central Tokyo. It houses the Tokyo offices of '' Stars and Stripes'', the Tokyo division of the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

, and the Hardy Barracks, an accommodation facility for military personnel. The base also houses a

helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...

and gasoline pump. The United States Army has officially stated that the helipad is meant to be used during emergency situations in Tokyo, while the mayor of Minato City has stated that "we have been told in response to inquiries that the details of how the base is used cannot be released publicly." The heliport is periodically used by civilian helicopters for official purposes such as medical evacuation of patients from the

Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

under a 2008 agreement between the US military and Tokyo metropolitan government.

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

boarded a Black Hawk helicopter from the site in March 2007. The site was previously the base of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Division,

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, one of the units involved in the February 26 Incident of 1936. The unit was sent to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

later that year, and the site then housed units of the

Imperial Guard An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the Emperor or Empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, in ...

through the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The United States military took over the entire site in 1945. A large portion of the facility was returned to Japan in 1962 and used by the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

Institute of Industrial Science until 2001; this area is now occupied by

The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT) is a museum in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. A joint project of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the National Museums Independent Administrative Institution, it stands on a site formerly occupied by a research facility of the Universi ...

and the

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies The , or GRIPS, is an elite, highly selective research graduate school located in Minato, Tokyo. Funded by the Japanese Government, it has the status of national university. It is also one of Asia's leading think tanks of policy scholars and socia ...

. There has been organized local opposition to the facility since 1967, and both the Tokyo metropolitan assembly and Minato municipal assembly have unanimously resolved to request that the facility be removed. The facility is located near other US government installations in central Tokyo including the

United States Embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

(2.5 km to the northeast) and the

New Sanno Hotel The New Sannō Hotel or New Sannō U.S. Force Center is U.S. military building located in downtown Tokyo. It offers a swimming pool, recreational facilities, a Navy Exchange, and other services designed for military travelers. The hotel is regulat ...

(2.2 km to the south).

Gallery

File:USFJ Akasaka Press Center.JPG, Main building File:US-Army-Akasaka-Press-Center-02.jpg, Main entrance viewed from street File:U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel waves to the pilots of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after landing at Hardy Barracks in Tokyo, April 5, 2014 140405-D-BW835-161.jpg, U.S. Defense Secretary

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( born October 4, 1946)UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ...

, 2014 File:US-Army-Akasaka-Press-Center-03.jpg, Hardy Barracks building viewed from street

References

{{authority control Heliports in Japan Installations of the U.S. Department of Defense in Japan Military facilities in Tokyo