April 26, 2010
Tokyo, April 26 (Jiji Press) -- The Japanese government will make its own decision on a site to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Monday.
Regarding Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima's participation in a local rally Sunday against any proposal to transfer the base within the prefecture, Hatoyama noted that the prefectural leader had made his own decision to attend the event.
But Hatoyama said the central government is trying seriously to make a definite conclusion from its own standpoint, indicating that he may have to make a decision that would not entirely satisfy the demands of local residents.
Still, he said the government must by all means realize the two goals of reducing the burdens of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities and troops in Japan, and eliminating the danger posed by the Futenma base, now located in a crowded area of the city of Ginowan.
Hatoyama declined to comment on media reports that the government is considering a minor revision to the existing relocation plan that calls for the base to be moved to a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago in the same prefecture. The original plan was agreed on between Japan and the United States in 2006.
(2010/04/26-21:50)
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