JAPAN: Health gripes spur DoCoMo to hang up on Hyogo facility

DoCoMo will shut down a cell phone station's operations because Hankyu Bus Co. cannot lease the land without residents' approval

The Japan Times
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

KOBE (Kyodo) --- NTT DoCoMo Inc. will remove one of its cell phone stations in Hyogo Prefecture by around April at the request of the landowner, which is facing complaints that the installation is harming public health, company officials said Tuesday.

Hankyu Bus Co. decided to stop leasing the land to the cell phone carrier because local residents have complained that the phone facility is making them sick.

According to the two firms, DoCoMo began leasing the land in the city of Kawanishi in January 2005 and the phone station started operations that December.

Last May, 10 neighbors took the matter to the Osaka Summary Court, demanding the facility be removed on grounds that its electromagnetic waves caused health problems, including buzzing in their ears and insomnia.

Although DoCoMo claims that no link can be established between the electromagnetic waves and the residents' health problems, Hankyu Bus said it will terminate the lease in June because the contract does not allow it to offer use of the land without the residents' consent.

"This may be the first time in Japan that a phone station will be taken out of operation due to opposition from local residents," an official with the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.

Local resident Sumiko Yamaji, 64, said she is "relieved" by the decision but feels she "cannot forgive" DoCoMo's earlier responses.

Date Posted: 12/19/2007