2 devices launched near US military base in Japan

"There were no injuries and thus far we have found no damage or impact points here on base," a US military spokesman in Japan said in a statement on Friday.
 
"The incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. Flying objects were launched near the US military's Yokota airbase," a spokesman for Tokyo Metropolitan Police said.
 
Residents near the base in western Tokyo called police last night to report hearing explosions, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police found several metal pipes pointing at the base in a field some 300 meters away.
 
Japan is host to almost 50,000 US service personnel and their families. The two countries have a mutual defense agreement that, in practice, means Tokyo is given shelter under Washington's significant security umbrella.
 
But many people in Okinawa, where the bulk of US troops are based, resent their presence and an increasingly vocal campaign wants them to leave.
 
The United States and Japan are currently taking part in a huge naval exercise involving dozens of warships, submarines and aircraft off the island of Okinawa, amid heightened tensions with China.
 
The AnnualEx 2013 war games, which kicked off on November 25, are designed to increase the defensive readiness and interoperability of US naval forces and their Japanese counterparts, according to the US Navy.
 
Thursday's incident also comes as tensions run high in the region between China and Japan with the focus on a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.