Negishi Airfield

Military Redevelopment. The airstrip was a temporary installation on the grounds of the former Negishi Race Course, which had been seized by the US military. The site was decommissioned as an airfield to allow for the construction of the permanent Negishi Heights U.S. Navy housing complex, which began in 1947. Air operations were consolidated at larger, more permanent bases like Naval Air Facility Atsugi.

The site of the former airfield is now Negishi Forest Park (根岸森林公園, Negishi Shinrin Kōen), a large and popular public park in Yokohama. The vast, open lawns of the park follow the outline of the former racetrack. The original 1929 grandstands of the historic race course have been preserved and stand as a prominent, albeit derelict, landmark within the park. The adjacent area, which was the Negishi Heights housing complex, was returned to Japan in 2015 and is slated for future redevelopment by the city.

The site's primary historical significance is not as an airfield, but as the location of the Negishi Race Course, Japan's first Western-style horse racing track, which operated from 1866 until 1942. After the end of World War II, the occupying U.S. forces converted the open space of the former racetrack into a simple, unpaved airstrip. It was used for a very brief period for light aircraft, likely for liaison, transport, and observation purposes during the initial phase of the occupation. It was never a major airbase and its operational history as an airfield is minimal. The ICAO code JP-0432 is a modern, unofficial identifier for a historical site and was not used during its operation.

There are zero plans or prospects for reopening the airfield. The land is now a dedicated public park in the middle of a dense, urban environment. Its value as a recreational and historical site is firmly established, making any consideration of converting it back to an airfield politically and logistically impossible.