April 29, 2010The administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has begun negotiations with local bodies and the United States towards proceeding with a modified plan to relocate Futenma base to an area off of Camp Schwab in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa.
At the same time, although Hatoyama continues to push the possibility of moving some forces to Kagoshima Prefecture's Tokunoshima Island, that plan appears increasingly unlikely.
Hatoyama looks to have initiated a plan that combines a modified version of the original Henoko plan with a proposition to move at most 1,000 airborne troops to Tokunoshima. However, after being refused a meeting with the mayors of Tokunoshima's three towns and failing to win the cooperation of former legislator Torao Tokuda -- who has influence in Tokunoshima -- pressure from the Foreign and Defense ministries to return to the original plan looks set to increase.
On Wednesday, Hatoyama visited Tokuda's Tokyo residence and laid out for the first time the details of his plan to move part of the Marines stationed at Futenma, such as helicopter units, to the island. He also suggested the possibility of spreading the burden of the American presence by using Tokunoshima Airport for the Marines' drills and having them perform their drills together with Japanese Self-Defense Forces across the country.
Hatoyama, who has expressed interest in visiting Tokunoshima to gain their support, did not receive a positive answer from Tokuda. "I'd like to help, but considering public opinion on Tokunoshima, relocation there is impossible," said Tokuda.
The mayors of Tokunoshima Island's three towns -- Amagi, Isen, and Tokunoshima -- have also expressed strong opposition to the plan. On Wednesday Akira Okubo, the mayor of Isen, criticized the meeting between Hatoyama and Tokuda, saying, "Hatoyama's order of approach is wrong. The first step should be 'visit the region,' shouldn't it?"
There remains just over one month until Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline for solving the Futenma issue. Although Hatoyama was originally adamant about relocating the base out of Okinawa Prefecture, in a Diet debate on April 21 with leaders from various parties Hatoyama showed signs he was starting to look at compromising with the U.S. position, saying things like, "More than the local areas, the main question is can we get agreement from the U.S." Afterwards, he suggested to his aides that "as long as land reclamation" is not used, a relocation plan to Henoko would be acceptable.
However, no matter whether the environmental damage of land reclamation is avoided, Hatoyama's current actions contradict his earlier insistence on relocation being "out of the prefecture at a minimum."
According to a source close to Hatoyama, while he tries to appease the U.S. on the one hand, his continued insistence on trying to move some forces to Tokunoshima is designed show that the new administration "has fought for and achieved a step that improves on the original plan."
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 29, 2010
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