April 20, 2010Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has suggested it will be difficult to proceed with a government plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa to the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Tokunoshima.
Following Sunday's rally by 15,000 Tokunoshima residents protesting against the relocation plan, Kitazawa told the House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense on Tuesday, "We must take it extremely seriously that half of the island's residents demonstrated their opposition to the plan."
Earlier the same day, Kitazawa told reporters following a Cabinet meeting: "Under the current conditions, it would be pretty difficult for us to ask Tokunoshima to host the base,"
Hiroshi Kawauchi, head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)'s Kagoshima prefectural chapter, had asked Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Monday to retract the Tokunoshima relocation plan.
While the government is planning to formally present the relocation proposal to the local governing bodies in Tokunoshima, Kitazawa's remarks indicate that negotiations over the plan look to be coming to a deadlock.
Meanwhile, Hatoyama reiterated his pledge to settle the relocation issue by the end of May.
"Since I've said that we will settle the issue by the end of May, there's no other way but to proceed with the (general relocation) plan with determination," Hatoyama told reporters on Tuesday morning.
He withheld from mentioning whether he will resign or not in case the relocation issue was not resolved by the May deadline.
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 20, 2010
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