April 28, 2010Retired legislator Torao Tokuda, elected from Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, has rejected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's proposal to relocate U.S. Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture to the island.
"It's impossible to build a base on the island," Tokuda, a former House of Representatives member who headed the Liberal League, was quoted as telling Hatoyama during a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Tokuda made the remark in response to Hatoyama's explanation of the plan to relocate the base to Tokunoshima and his request for cooperation in implementing it. This was the first time for the prime minister to unveil details of the government's plan to relocate the base to the island.
The former legislator still has huge influence on the local community of the island even though he is retired.
Tokuda's son Takeshi, an opposition Liberal Democratic Party member of the chamber, who also attended the meeting, was to meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano at the Prime Minister's Office later on Wednesday over the issue.
Under the plan, most of the Marine Corps' helicopter units stationed at Futenma base would be relocated to Tokunoshima and the rest to the inland area of U.S. forces Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
However, Washington voiced opposition to the plan because troops on Tokunoshima Island would be situated far from those in Okinawa.
The government is now considering revising the previous plan agreed upon between the two countries. The new proposal includes building a substitute facility in an offshore area of Camp Schwab.
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 28, 2010
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