Hatoyama vows to keep Ozawa as DPJ secretary general despite concern

Apr 30 09:00 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, April 30 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama vowed Friday to keep Ichiro Ozawa as secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan at least until this summer's House of Councillors election despite concern expressed by some Cabinet ministers over retaining him in the post.

Hatoyama admitted, however, that a recent decision by a citizens' panel that Ozawa merits being indicted over alleged false funds reports by his fund management body will have an impact on the upcoming election.

"Given that such a decision has been made, we should naturally think that it will have an impact on the upper house election," Hatoyama told reporters. "But we have no choice but to continue to work hard so that we can turn the clock forward."

Asked if he intends to keep Ozawa in the party No. 2 post until the upper house election, Hatoyama said, "That's naturally yes," adding, "I want him to keep on working hard."

But the DPJ leader said he has yet to convey his intention to Ozawa.

Hatoyama's intention to keep Ozawa in his post appears certain to embolden the opposition, making it likely that the DPJ-led coalition government will face harsh grilling in parliament over the politics and money question after the extended holiday weekend.

Earlier on Thursday in Washington, transport minister Seiji Maehara said that in his view, keeping Ozawa as DPJ secretary general despite the decision by the citizens' panel "will affect" the upper house election, in which the DPJ hopes to win a simple majority on its own.

Other Cabinet ministers expressed similar concern in Tokyo on Friday, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Naoto Kan saying that a lack of explanation by the veteran lawmaker would have an impact on the election, now expected to be held in July.

They also voiced concern over a sharp drop in public support for the Hatoyama Cabinet in the latest Kyodo News poll, which found that just 20.7 percent of the respondents expressed support for it.

At a news conference, Maehara said it is necessary to watch carefully how the prosecution's investigation into the case unfolds. But "above all, (Ozawa) is responsible for the fact that three of his secretaries have been arrested" over the case, he said.

While Hatoyama should decide on what to do, Ozawa should also decide by himself whether to resign, the former DPJ leader added.

"After all, he has been serving at the forefront (of the political world) for 40 years -- as secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, the DPJ leader and now its secretary general," he said.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Kan said, "The fact that we are not in a situation where the public has been convinced by (Ozawa's explanation) has left worries about its impact on the upper house (election)."

Saying the public does not seem to have been convinced by Ozawa's explanation at previous news conferences, Kan, who is also a DPJ member, said Ozawa needs to explain himself to the public more.

Farm minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said the decision by the citizens' panel "is, as it were, a public opinion."

"It goes to show that the public has turned a harsh eye on Mr. Ozawa's problem," he added.

Citing the Kyodo poll that showed 83.8 percent of the respondents said Ozawa should step down, government revitalization minister Yukio Edano called on the party secretary general to account for himself.

"It's Mr. Ozawa's responsibility to improve the rating to less than 50 percent by convincing the public," Edano said during the recording of a BS Asahi television program on Friday afternoon.

"It's the least he should do as secretary general," the DPJ lawmaker added.

On the 12.3-percentage-point drop in the support rate for the Cabinet from the previous Kyodo poll early this month, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said at a news conference, "This isn't a headwind."

"On the contrary, we are going through a storm," the DPJ lawmaker said.

Meanwhile, Mizuho Fukushima, consumer affairs minister who heads the Social Democratic Party, and financial services minister Shizuka Kamei, who leads the People's New Party, both refrained from commenting on their coalition partner's affairs.

The Cabinet members' remarks came after an independent judicial panel decided earlier this week that Ozawa should be indicted over his fund management body's alleged false reporting of political funds in 2004 and 2005. In February, prosecutors decided not to charge Ozawa, citing a lack of evidence, after questioning him twice in January.

Hatoyama to explain government relocation plan

April 30, 2010
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Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says he will meet the Okinawa governor to explain the current government plan on relocating the US Futenma Air Station facility.

Hatoyama, who will visit Okinawa on Tuesday for the first time since taking office last year, also hopes to gauge the mood of the prefecture's residents.

He is expected to hold talks with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and the mayor of Nago City, Susumu Inamine, as well as viewing areas around the Futenma base and Camp Schwab in Nago City.

On Friday, Hatoyama told reporters that he has been working hard to accommodate the opinions of Okinawans. In that respect, he said, he will visit the southernmost prefecture with a view to hearing what they have to say about the Futenma issue.
The government is considering transferring some Futenma functions to Tokunoshima Island in neighboring Kagoshima prefecture. It is also planning to build a pile-supported runway in a coastal area of Camp Schwab.

Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the governing coalition partner Social Democratic Party, is opposed to the current government plan.

Hatoyama said he understands each party has its own policy, which he respects. He said he will continue talks toward consolidating the government's stance.

Asked how he views the settlement of the relocation issue by his self-imposed May 31st deadline, he said it will be settled if the United States, Okinawa and local communities that will host US facilities can reach consensus on a draft plan. He said he is determined to resolve the issue by the end of May.

2010/04/30 21:08(JST)
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PM credits voters for TIME deeming him among 100 most influential

Apr 30 07:48 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, April 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday credited voters for being chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

"The change of government was the public's choice," he told reporters. "I'm very happy that the very bold action taken by the people has led to this kind of appraisal."

The U.S. magazine said Thursday that Hatoyama "helped change his country from a de facto one-party state into a functional democracy," referring to last year's general election in which his Democratic Party of Japan ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power.

Hatoyama to visit Okinawa over U.S. base issue Tues., 1st trip as PM

Apr 30 07:20 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, April 30 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday to hold talks with Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on the issue of where to relocate a U.S. Marine base in the southernmost prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday.

In his first visit to Okinawa since taking power last September, Hatoyama, who is aiming to end this row by May 31, is expected to explain to the governor that he plans to build a pile-supported facility on the coast of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago to relocate the Marines' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan there, instead of reclaiming land from the sea on the coast in line with an existing accord.

"What's important is the opinion of the people, especially that of people on Okinawa," Hatoyama told reporters in the evening. "I've been working based on that belief. That's why I would like to visit there."

"I want to explain to them how the government is thinking about the relocation at this point," he said.

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government is also planning to transfer up to 1,000 Marines or some of the drills at Futemma to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers northeast of Okinawa.

Hirano said a detailed schedule for the premier's visit has yet to be fixed, but according to government sources Hatoyama will likely meet with Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine and residents on Okinawa, and visit Futemma, Camp Schwab and other locations concerned.

But it is unlikely that his plan will win the go-ahead from local residents, as people on Okinawa are still hoping Hatoyama will move Futemma outside the prefecture to keep the pledge he made during last year's election campaign and people on Tokunoshima are dead set against hosting any U.S. military facility.

In the Okinawan capital of Naha, Nakaima on Friday displayed displeasure about the government's reported plan of transferring Futemma within Okinawa.

"I wonder by what process the government has ended up with a plan to move it within the prefecture against (Hatoyama's) campaign pledge," he said. "I wonder how seriously the government has examined relocation sites outside Okinawa."

Nakaima said he will demand again that Futemma be relocated outside the prefecture as Hatoyama pledged.

The premier has also met with fierce opposition from the Social Democratic Party, one of the DPJ's two coalition partners.

SDP chief Mizuho Fukushima, who is also minister in charge of declining birthrate issues and consumer affairs, said in a press conference Friday she told Hatoyama over the phone earlier in the day that she doubts his plan is something people in Okinawa have hoped for even if it does not involve land reclamation.

Fukushima hinted late last year at breaking with the tripartite coalition if Futemma remains in Okinawa.

But Hatoyama said, "We will continue coordinating (with the partners) and put together a government plan."

Asked by reporters what he means by saying he will "solve the issue by the end of May," Hatoyama said he would view it a "settlement" if the government agrees on a general direction for a solution with Washington officials, people in Okinawa and those in the areas that may become the new host.

Tokyo and Washington agreed in 2006 to reclaim land from the sea off Camp Schwab and to transfer Futemma there, but Hatoyama has been seeking an alternative plan to ease the burden on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in Japan, and reduce the impact on the local marine environment.

On a possible relocation of Marines or drills to Tokunoshima, which is home to about 27,000 people, Hatoyama visited Torao Tokuda, a key figure on the island, at his home in Tokyo on Wednesday in a failed attempt to gain support from the retired politician.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano said Friday that he is still looking to meet with mayors of the three towns on the island to explain to them what the government is planning for the relocation and offer apologies for causing them concern.

Taiwan, Japan sign memorandum to enhance ties

Apr 30 07:09 AM US/Eastern

TAIPEI, April 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Taiwan and Japan have signed a memorandum of understanding dated Friday to advance cooperation and exchanges across a wide range of sectors, heralding a full recovery in unofficial relations after a period of tension stemming from sovereignty issues.

The MOU said Taiwan's East Asia Relations Commission and Japan's de facto mission in Taiwan, the Interchange Association, reached a consensus to deepen economic, legal, cultural, security, environmental, technological and scholastic ties, as well as stronger links between local governments.

The 15-point memorandum stands as a counterpoint to deepening ties between Taiwan and China, though its low-key release underlines the sensitivity of the Taiwan-China relationship at a time of cross-strait detente.

Critics have portrayed a pending Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Taiwan's Nationalist Party (KMT) government and Beijing as evidence Taiwan is engaging China at the expense of economic ties with other countries.

On Tuesday, President Ma Ying-jeou told the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club the government would only pursue new free trade agreements after the ECFA with China is signed.

But Vice Premier Eric Chu told visiting member of the Japanese diet Yoshihide Suga on Friday the government hopes to sign an FTA with Japan as soon as possible.

The Taiwan-Japan MOU does not refer to FTA negotiations. It states, however, that "to advance economic exchanges, the two sides shall...increase sharing of information and ideas" and take their economic relationship to "the next step."

Reflecting recent tension over disputed territorial waters between Taiwan and Japan, the MOU promises improved communication in maritime security and order.

It also commits Taiwan and Japan to strengthening links between the commercial, technological, cultural and tourism sectors.

The MOU completes a period of diplomatic rebalancing that followed tensions generated by clashes between Taiwanese fishermen and Japanese patrols and comments on Taiwan's sovereign status by the former Japanese representative Masaki Saito.

Taiwan's legislators featured prominently in both incidents, threatening to travel to Japanese waters by boat in the former case and demanding Saito's removal in the latter.

A source at the Interchange Association told Kyodo News the document generally attempts to reflect progress in the Taiwan-Japan relationship since the severing of formal ties in 1972.

The source also said a subtext is the erosion of linguistic ties between Taiwan and Japan.

From Japanese annexation in 1895 to the end of World War II, Taiwan was Japanese territory but governed as a colony. Children were required to learn Japanese and today most Taiwanese old enough to have attended school by the early 1940s can still speak Japanese.

Since the arrival of the KMT government, however, the number of Japanese speakers has dwindled.

The MOU commits both sides not only to broader understanding and the promotion of Taiwan and Japan studies, but also increased support for scholastic enterprise and exchange students.

Other areas of enhanced cooperation in the MOU include disaster preparedness and reconstruction, fighting crime, immigration controls, energy conservation and alternative energy, media exchanges, agriculture and fishing.

Hsieh Huai-hui, deputy director of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's department of international affairs, welcomed the MOU.

She said the DPP administration under former President Chen Shui-bian "started the process" for much of the ground covered in the document, but the party nonetheless supports the latest developments.

She added she hopes the KMT government is not simply paying "lip service" to Tokyo.

Japan PM appeals for union support amid base row

Friday, April 30

TOKYO (AFP) - – Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose political future has been threatened by a row over a US military base, Thursday called on major trade unions to continue supporting his government.

"There is a growing force to turn back the clock but we must move the hands of the clock further in the right direction," Hatoyama told a mass rally organised by Japan's biggest labour confederation, Rengo.

About 33,000 people, according to Rengo's count, gathered at a central Tokyo park for the May Day rally, held Thursday to coincide with a public holiday.

"The change of government was meant to make a society which rewards those who work," said Hatoyama, whose centre-left Democratic Party of Japan swept to power in a landslide election victory last year, ending a half century of almost unbroken conservative rule.

"I am convinced that you are feeling how the country is changing," he said.

But Hatoyama's approval rating has plunged, from over 70 percent into the 20-percent range, while he and his party head were embroiled in political fund scandals and he was seen lagging on his promises.

The rate stood at 20.7 percent, down 12.3 points from three weeks earlier, according to the latest opinion poll released by Kyodo news agency Thursday. The disapproval rating rose 11.1 points to 64.4 percent.

Hatoyama has vowed to "stake his job" on settling by the end of May the issue of relocating a US Marine base on Okinawa, amid criticism from opposition parties and the media just months before upper-house elections in the summer.

As part of his "people-first" policy, Hatoyama has promised to move the unpopular base from Okinawa, an island in Japan's southern most prefecture, or even out of Japan entirely.

The proposal has irritated the US administration, as it runs counter to a 2006 Japan-US agreement to relocate the Futenma base away from a crowded urban area to reclaimed land on a quieter seaside area of Okinawa.

While Washington has insisted on sticking to the unpopular original plan, Hatoyama's government has been struggling to find an alternative site.

In the Kyodo poll, 54.4 percent of respondents said Hatoyama should step down if he failed to meet his end-of-May deadline.

An estimated 90,000 people protested in Okinawa on Sunday against any move to keep the base there while residents of the island of Tokunoshima, 200 kilometres (125 miles) away, have also rallied against reported plans to move the base there.

Kurt Campbell, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, returned to Washington Wednesday without talking to the media after meeting Japanese officials to discuss the base issue.

Reports said Tokyo appeared to have presented him a compromise idea on building a new military runway in Okinawa -- on a pile-supported platform which can be less damaging than landfill to coral reefs -- while moving some Marines to Tokunoshima.

Hatoyama did not mention the base issue at the union rally.

Nobuaki Koga, chairman of Rengo, which claims a membership of 6.8 million people, said he hoped the government would pursue its policies "by sincerely listening to people's voices.

"The change has just begun to create a society which attaches importance to people's lives."

Iha to convey his opposition to Hatoyama

April 30, 2010
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The mayor of Ginowan City, Yoichi Iha, will tell Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama next week that he opposes the government's idea to modify the 2006 Japan-US agreement on relocating the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.

Hatoyama will visit Okinawa on Tuesday to meet the prefectural governor and city mayors.

Iha is the mayor of the city where Futenma is located.

The Prime Minister will explain that his government wants to modify the existing agreement to transfer the functions of Futenma Air Station by building a pile-supported runway in shallow waters of the US Camp Schwab in Nago City.

Iha told reporters on Friday that a plan to build a smaller facility near Camp Schwab has already been examined and rejected.

He says he thinks the idea will not be accepted by people in Okinawa and the rest of the country and in the long run, pressing ahead with such a proposal may make the public deeply distrust the US government.

Iha also indicated that he has accepted a request by the government to help arrange a meeting with residents at a school near the Futenma base.

He says when the Prime Minister meets people and fully understands their strong opposition to the modified plan, the available options for the government may become clearer.

2010/04/30 16:10(JST)
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Ministers voice concern over impact of Ozawa scandal on election

Apr 30 02:50 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, April 30 (Kyodo) — Transport minister Seiji Maehara expressed concern Thursday in Washington that keeping Ichiro Ozawa as secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan will negatively impact this summer's House of Councilors election.

Other Cabinet ministers expressed similar concern in Tokyo on Friday, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Naoto Kan saying that a lack of explanation by the DPJ's No. 2 figure would have an impact on the election, which is expected to be held in July.

At a news conference, Maehara said that in his view, Ozawa's continued presence as DPJ secretary general, despite a recent decision by a citizens' panel that he merits being indicted over alleged false funds reports by his fund management body, "will affect" the upcoming upper house election.

While saying it is necessary to watch carefully how the investigation into the case unfolds, the former DPJ leader said, "Above all, (Ozawa) is responsible for the fact that three of his secretaries have been arrested."

Maehara, who was in Washington on Thursday on a tour of the United States and Vietnam to make a pitch for Japanese technologies, said that while Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama should decide on what to do, Ozawa should also decide whether to resign by himself.

"After all, he has been serving at the forefront (of the political world) for 40 years -- as secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, the DPJ leader and now its secretary general," he said.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Kan said, "The fact that we are not in a situation where the public has been convinced by (Ozawa's explanation) has left worries about its impact on the upper house (election)."

Saying the public does not seem to have been convinced by Ozawa's explanation at previous news conferences, Kan, who is also a DPJ member, said Ozawa needs to explain himself to the public more.

Farm minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said the citizens' panel "is, as it were, a public opinion."

"It goes to show that the public has turned a harsh eye on Mr. Ozawa's problem," he added.

Government revitalization minister Yukio Edano indicated apparent hope that Ozawa will voluntarily decide to step down to avoid having the case weigh heavily on the outcome of the upper house election.

"A secretary general's job is first and foremost to win elections," Edano said.

Meanwhile, Mizuho Fukushima, consumer affairs minister who heads the Social Democratic Party, and financial services minister Shizuka Kamei, who leads the People's New Party, both refrained from commenting on their coalition partner's affairs.

The Cabinet members' remarks came after an independent judicial panel decided earlier this week that Ozawa should be indicted over his fund management body's alleged false reporting of political funds in 2004 and 2005.

After the panel's decision, Hatoyama, who also heads the party, suggested he is prepared to keep Ozawa in the position.

SDP head opposes government's relocation plan

April 30, 2010
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The head of the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner, has opposed the government's plan to modify the 2006 bilateral agreement on relocating the US Marines Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

Mizuho Fukushima told reporters on Friday that she had conveyed her opposition to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama over the phone.

The government is considering a plan to modify the existing agreement and build a pile-supported runway in shallow waters off the US Camp Schwab, a less-populated area of Nago City in the prefecture.

Fukushima said the latest plan could reduce the environmental impact on the candidate site, but it's unlikely that the people of Okinawa will accept it because some of the facilities will remain in the prefecture.

She added that the Prime Minister should seriously consider the views of residents who are demanding the removal of the US base from their prefecture.

Internal affairs minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi called for understanding of the government's efforts to review the original plan.

He said there would have been no confusion if the government had adopted the plan that was agreed when the Liberal Democrats were in power. But he said it rejected the agreement, believing that it does not represent the ideal direction for Okinawa and Japan.

2010/04/30 14:19(JST)
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Okinawa DPJ head opposes govt relocation plan

April 30, 2010
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The head of the ruling Democratic Party's Okinawa chapter has voiced his opposition to the government's modified plan to build a runway on pilings in shallow waters of Camp Schwab for relocating the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.

Shokichi Kina visited Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday.
Kina said the plan, a modification of an existing plan agreed upon by the United States and Japan in 2006, is not acceptable because it still poses an environmental threat.

He said opposition to moving the base functions within the prefecture continues to mount among residents.

Kina told Hatoyama that he does not think it is necessary for the prime minister to settle the issue by his self-imposed deadline of the end of May.

Meanwhile, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine said he would meet with Hatoyama when the prime minister visits Okinawa on Tuesday.

Inamine said he will express his opposition to transferring the base functions to either the waters off the city or any of its land, as he has pledged to his constituents.

Okinawa hosts most of the US military bases in Japan.

2010/04/30 14:05(JST)
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Hatoyama to Visit Okinawa on Tues.

April 30, 2010

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Tuesday to meet with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday.

Hatoyama is expected to explain to Nakaima a government plan to transfer part of the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa's Ginowan to ease the burden on the prefecture.

The Hatoyama government reportedly intends to modify the existing relocation plan for the Futenma base that calls for reclamation of an area of waters off the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, another Okinawa city.

The government hopes to move the helicopter unit of the Futenma base to Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, north of Okinawa.

Visiting Okinawa for the first time since taking office in September, Hatoyama hopes to gain Nakaima's understanding of the new plan.

(2010/04/30-13:26)

Hatoyama to visit Okinawa next week

April 30, 2010
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Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit Okinawa on Tuesday to hold talks with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima on relocating a US military base in Japan's southernmost prefecture.

Hatoyama's visit to Okinawa will be the first since he took power last September.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said on Friday that Hatoyama will tell the governor and the people of Okinawa about the government's idea for relocating the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.

Hirano indicated that Hatoyama is also considering a meeting with Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine. Hatoyama is also expected to visit the areas near the Futenma base and the US Camp Schwab in Nago.

Hirano says Hatoyama is determined to hear the opinions of the governor and the people before the government makes its decision on the issue by the end of May.

Hatoyama's government plans to build a pile-supported runway in a coastal area of Camp Schwab in the less densely populated city of Nago.

2010/04/30 13:14(JST)
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Japan PM renews vow to resolve U.S. base row

By Isabel Reynolds
Thursday, April 29, 2010; 11:43 PM

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday reiterated his pledge to resolve a row over moving a U.S. Marine base, though he has yet to formally reveal a plan a month ahead of a self-imposed deadline.

The feud over the Futenma base on Japan's southern Okinawa islands has helped erode support for Hatoyama's government, which slid to about 20 percent in a poll this week after a judicial panel said ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa should be charged over a funding scandal.

Voter disillusionment bodes ill for the ruling Democratic Party's chances of winning a majority in the upper house election expected in July or August, which it needs to avoid policy deadlock.

"I said I would decide on an alternative location by the end of May," Hatoyama told reporters, denying his plans for Futenma were going off course.

"Of course, the people of Okinawa, the areas that could become the new host and America will all have their own views. We want to put together our plan based on that," he continued.

Hatoyama is set to visit the islands on Tuesday to explain his thinking to Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima and visit locations affected by the bases, the top government spokesman told reporters on Friday.

Domestic media say he hopes to gain approval for a plan to shift some Futenma Marines to the tiny island of Tokunoshima, northeast of Okinawa, while altering plans for a new runway off the coast of Okinawa to reduce the environmental impact.

FUNDING SCANDAL WEIGHS

Officials both in Japan and the United States are concerned about the reaction his visit might spark after tens of thousands of people rallied on Okinawa last weekend to call for the base to be moved elsewhere, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Friday.

Residents of Tokunoshima have also demonstrated against any transfer of U.S. troops there and an influential leader on the island told Hatoyama this week his plans were not feasible.

Hatoyama also faces resistance from within his own ruling coalition. Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said she had called him to say the proposal would not be accepted by local people.

"This will be a chance for him to face up to the powerful feelings of local people," she said of his upcoming visit.

The countdown to the May 31 deadline coincides with growing pressure on his ruling Democratic Party over Secretary-General Ozawa, with the latest poll showing almost 84 percent of voters think he should resign.

Ozawa, who is seen as a master election strategist but also something of a liability after three former and current aides were indicted over the funding scandal, said on Tuesday his conscience was clear and that he had no plans to step down.

The row has underlined cracks in Hatoyama's cabinet over the funding allegations, after the premier said he wanted to keep Ozawa in his post.

Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said keeping Ozawa on would affect the results of the election, but added the question of whether to resign was up to the individual, domestic media reported.

Finance Minister Naoto Kan also weighed in on the issue.

"A lot of things affect election results. But the public isn't convinced, so I'm worried about the impact on the upper house election," he told reporters, urging Ozawa to make more efforts to explain.

(Editing by Joseph Radford)

Japan, US to do utmost to settle base relocation

April 30, 2010
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Japan and the United States have agreed to do their utmost to settle the relocation issue of a US base in Okinawa by the end of May, the deadline promised by Japan's prime minister.

Japan's Parliamentary Secretary for Defense Akihisa Nagashima spoke with NHK in Washington on Thursday.

Nagashima said that he and US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell agreed to make efforts to settle the relocation of US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station by the end of May.

Nagashima said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama repeatedly made promises in the Diet that the issue would be settled by then.

He also commented on Hatoyama's idea for the relocation, which includes moving up to 1,000 troops and training programs from Futenma to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers north of Okinawa.

Nagashima said the US Marines have operational reasons to keep its ground and air units at the same base, but he thinks separating them could be possible.

2010/04/30 12:37(JST)
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Hatoyama denies govt being inconsistent on Futenma

April 30, 2010
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Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has stressed that his government has never been inconsistent over the relocation of the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.

On Friday Hatoyama replied to a reporter who asked why the government is in a confused and inconsistent state over the relocation issue.
Hatoyama explained that the government is trying to forge a plan by the end of May, as announced.

He said the plan is based on the candidate sites and the combined input of the people of Okinawa and the United States.

He said that if all those ideas are combined into one, the final task would be to gain public understanding. Hatoyama added that he now plans to work towards this.

Hatoyama's government has been exploring ideas to revise a 2006 relocation plan with the United States. This has included building a semi-offshore airfield in a coastal area of US Marine Camp Schwab in less populated Nago city.

Hatoyama's final consideration is a modification of the agreed plan. It would include building a runway in shallow waters, and moving as many Futenma functions as possible to Tokunoshima Island, 200 kilometers north of Okinawa.

But the people of both Okinawa and Tokunoshima have held massive rallies to protest the idea.

2010/04/30 12:10(JST)
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Hatoyama to visit Okinawa over U.S. base issue: Hirano

Apr 29 10:08 PM US/Eastern

TOKYO, April 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday to hold talks with Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima over the issue on where to relocate a U.S. Marine base in the southernmost prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday.

Hatoyama is expected to explain to the governor that his government is planning to build a pile-supported facility on the coast of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, to relocate the Futemma Air Station in Ginowan there.

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government is also planning to transfer part of the drills at Futemma to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers northeast of Okinawa.

Tokyo and Washington agreed in 2006 to reclaim land from the sea on the coast of Camp Schwab and to transfer Futemma there, but the Hatoyama government has been seeking an alternative plan to ease the burden on people in Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.

Mainichi :: Friday, April 30, 2010

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• Japan to send mission to Sudan to see if GSDF unit can join UN peacekeepers


• Calls by Cabinet members for Ozawa to resign grow louder


• Hatoyama to visit Okinawa over U.S. base issue: Hirano (Kyodo News)


• Editorial :: Public panel's calls that Ozawa be indicted over funding scandal a cause for grave concern

Japan Times :: Friday, April 30, 2010

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Pier-type airstrip eyed at Henoko

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/04/30

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will propose building a pier-type, pile-supported runway off Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, as part of a plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, sources said.

The plan, which he will discuss during his visit to the southern island prefecture on Tuesday, also envisions possibly relocating up to 1,000 of Futenma's 2,500 Marines to Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Local communities at both locations have made clear their opposition to hosting the Futenma functions, meaning Hatoyama has his work cut out in trying to settle the issue by his self-imposed, end-of-May deadline.

Hatoyama pledged during the Lower House election last summer to relocate the Futenma airfield in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to a site "at least outside the prefecture."

The United States has urged Tokyo to honor a 2006 bilateral agreement to reclaim waters off Henoko to build dual runways in a V shape.

According to government sources, Hatoyama decided on the plan in consultation with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and others on Wednesday. To lessen the burden on Okinawa, the plan divides Futenma's functions and shifts as many Marines as possible to Tokunoshima, the sources said.

The plan envisions the use of the 2,000-meter runway at Tokunoshima Airport for re-locating Futenma's helicopter operations or training. New hangars and barracks will have to be built on the island, which has roughly 26,000 residents.

Instead of reclaiming the land off Henoko, the new plan envisions building an 1,800-meter runway on a pile-supported platform in the shallow coastal waters.

In addition, landing and takeoff exercises for U.S. aircraft flying in from outside Okinawa Prefecture, currently conducted at Kadena Air Base in the prefecture, will be shifted outside the prefecture.

The government is considering moving them to uninhabited islands in Kagoshima Prefecture or to Self-Defense Forces bases elsewhere, according to the sources.

The pier-type runway plan for Henoko emerged after Hatoyama blasted the 2006 plan to reclaim the coast as "blasphemy against nature."

Sources said the new plan will reduce the impact on the environment. But critics are already worried about how driving thousands of piles into the seabed will affect the area's coral and dugong populations.

Although the Hatoyama plan still involves many elements of the 2006 plan, U.S. officials have been less than enthusiastic. They are frowning on the Tokunoshima location, about 200 kilometers north of Okinawa, citing operational concerns.

U.S. officials are also concerned about the costs to build and maintain a pile-supported runway, as well as the vulnerability of such a structure to terrorist attacks.

On Thursday, Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, made clear her party's opposition to the new Henoko plan. She is a member of the Cabinet.

Hatoyama will meet with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and mayors of related municipalities on Tuesday. But his visit is being painted by critics as a gesture of an "effort made," a fallback in case he fails to honor his self-imposed deadline.

Cyber warnings on foreign suffrage deluge tiny isle

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/04/30

The remote island of Aogashima became inundated with messages from around the country, warning of an invasion by hostile foreign forces and claiming that the very survival of Japan was at stake.

Masanobu Yoshida, head of the general affairs section of the Aogashima village office, was one such recipient of the ominous e-mails.

For two weeks, he deleted these messages from his office computer, only to see his inbox fill up again with warnings of impending doom.

"What on earth is happening?" he asked no one in particular.

What was happening at that time was the campaign for the Jan. 24 by-election. Up for grabs was a seat in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly representing the constituency covering Aogashima and other islands under Tokyo's jurisdiction.

Although the main issue in the election was economic promotion, the e-mailers were more concerned about foreign residents getting the right to vote on the island.

They warned that small island municipalities, such as Aogashima with a population of 167, could be easily invaded if foreign suffrage was granted, putting the entire nation in danger.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government is considering giving the country's 910,000 foreign residents with permanent residency status the right to vote in local elections.

That idea has sparked a number of loud and angry protests from right-wing groups in front of offices of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan around the nation.

Now, their message has reached Aogashima island, 358 kilometers south of Tokyo, and other islands in the Izu and Ogasawara chains through e-mails and faxes.

The messages were sent to nursing homes, elementary schools, inns and other institutions. One person received more than 1,000 of the e-mails a day.

As society becomes increasingly swayed by online rumors and commentaries, the doomsday scenario has even been promoted by a politician.

Yoichiro Amameishi, a 41-year-old member of the city assembly of Musashimurayama in western Tokyo, wrote in his blog last November what might happen if foreigners could vote on Aogashima.

In such a situation, Chinese people would move to Aogashima in droves. The island would become independent of Japan and form an alliance with China, he wrote. With this island under its control, China would overpower the U.S. armed forces in Japan and then invade Taiwan and Okinawa Prefecture.

His scenario spawned a novel published by Takarajimasha Inc. this spring.

Aogashima was taken up because the village has the fewest residents among all municipalities in Japan.

"A village mayor has been elected by winning only 10 more votes than the runner-up. It could be controlled by manipulating only a handful of people. It's a blind spot in national security," Amameishi warned.

The e-mails to Aogashima and the other islands could be traced to another blog written by Tokyo-based journalist Masanori Mizuma, 59, which carried contact information on more than 150 people and organizations on the Izu and Ogasawara island chains.

"If the media had properly reported (on the foreign suffrage issue), people on the Net would not have been worried," Mizuma told The Asahi Shimbun, referring to the huge number of e-mails sent. "I'm sure it's an act of goodwill out of concerns that they did not want to endanger Japan."

The contact information was gathered by people who read his blog.

"I only convey the information. Silent people who were worried are awakening on the Internet," he said.

After the interview, Mizuma updated his blog, which describes himself and like-minded people as "individuals with good intentions who have obtained the ability to spread information."

He also suggested The Asahi Shimbun interviewed him with an ulterior motive. "There is a possibility of a conspiracy to remove the power of Internet users before the Upper House election (in the summer)," he wrote on his blog.

The by-election, meanwhile, was won by a candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party over one from Hatoyama's DPJ.

The invasion theory and concerns about foreign residents voting are spreading throughout the country.

Thirty-five prefectural assemblies have taken some sort of action concerning foreign suffrage, including adopting statements opposing the move or urging careful deliberations.

While Aogashima is regarded as a potential target of a Chinese takeover, the island of Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, is seen as being in the sights of South Korea.

The city assembly on the island, which is near the Korean Peninsula, adopted a statement in late March against foreigners' voting rights, based on a similar statement by an outside citizens group.

In fall 2008, group members visited the island and shouted: "Tsushima citizens, wake up!" and "This is war!"

In 2008, 72,000 South Korean tourists, or double Tsushima's population, visited the island. Some accommodations are geared toward South Koreans.

Claiming that South Koreans are buying up Tsushima land, members of the citizens group shouted, "Get the Koreans out of the island!"

Group representatives met the city assembly chairman and other leaders.

Pacific isle willing to host Futenma

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/04/30

Despite getting the cold shoulder, one of the Northern Mariana islands in the western Pacific is signaling it would welcome the chance to remove a thorn in the side of the Japan-U.S. relationship by hosting a U.S. air base in place of Okinawa Prefecture.

Tokyo and Washington, however, have dismissed the idea of transferring the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Tinian as unrealistic.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, is counting on huge economic benefits that would accrue from the move.

Its Senate in mid-April adopted a resolution to promote Tinian as the "best location" for the Futenma airfield, now in Ginowan. A resolution from the commonwealth's House of Representatives is to follow soon.

Local authorities have been encouraged by a February visit of lawmakers from Japan's junior coalition parties to Saipan, which is about 5 kilometers north of Tinian, in search of a relocation site.

But a senior U.S. State Department official says there are too many problems in considering Tinian as a relocation site, citing negative effects on the reorganization plan for U.S. forces and the island's poor infrastructure.

Among the premises of the planned realignment of U.S. forces is a continued deployment of Marines to Okinawa Prefecture. Thus, Tinian's proposal would require too drastic a review.

Tokyo also has declined to consider Guam or Tinian, deciding there was no prospect that Washington would accept it.

EDITORIAL: Futenma base issue

2010/04/30

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is finally showing some mettle and exercising leadership in an effort to break the deadlock over the Futenma airfield issue in Okinawa Prefecture.

Hatoyama on Wednesday met with Torao Tokuda, a former Lower House lawmaker from Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, and asked him to use his influence to settle the Futenma issue.

Hatoyama has also decided to visit Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday, midway through the Golden Week holidays, for talks on the issue with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima. It will be Hatoyama's first visit to the southernmost prefecture since he came to office last September.

Hatoyama has made encouraging remarks concerning Futenma. "I have a plan in mind," he once said. "I'm putting my job on the line (in trying to settle the issue)."

The problem is that he failed to lay the groundwork or exert strong leadership to ensure that his ministers remained united on the matter. As his self-imposed end-of-May deadline approaches, Hatoyama apparently felt under immense pressure to do something. But his move came far too late.

The Okinawan people are demanding that the air base be moved out of the prefecture. The U.S. government is insisting that the current agreement to relocate the base to another part of the island is the best option. In addition, the Social Democratic Party, a junior ruling coalition partner of the Democratic Party of Japan, is opposed to relocation within the prefecture.

It was clear from the beginning that there could be no plan to satisfy all the parties concerned. What has Hatoyama been doing for the past nearly eight months?

The proposal Hatoyama has put together would modify the current plan, which requires reclamation off the coastal area of the Henoko district in Nago to build a new facility. The Hatoyama's plan would instead build a runway on a newly built pier and transfer part of the Futenma base's helicopter squadrons to Tokunoshima.

Hatoyama pledged to move the air base "at least" out of Okinawa Prefecture. He probably thinks that a plan to shift part of the burden to the island in Kagoshima Prefecture would allow him to claim that he has honored part of his promise.

But about 60 percent of the island's residents held a rally to demonstrate their opposition. In his meeting with Hatoyama, Tokuda made clear that it is impossible to persuade the islanders to accept the plan. Trying to get a depopulated and economically distressed area to accept a military base in exchange for policy aid for regional development is exactly the same misguided approach as the one that has been adopted to relocate the Futenma airfield to the Henoko district.

Exploring options to move the base out of Okinawa Prefecture is not wrong in itself. But it is natural for the Tokunoshima residents to put up strong resistance to hosting a U.S. military base because the island was, like Okinawa, under U.S. occupation for some time after the end of World War II. We cannot help but question the integrity of any politician who has no qualms about selecting Tokunoshima as a relocation site merely because it is not part of Okinawa Prefecture.

As a permanent remedy, the government should try to find a way to move the base to Japan's mainland, even though that would be a formidable challenge and require an enormous amount of time and energy.

As details of the relocation plan being considered by the government have dribbled out in media reports, Hatoyama and his ministers have clammed up, saying, "no decision has been made." Such an attitude among top policymakers has been befuddling people in Okinawa Prefecture and in the areas that were named as possible relocation sites, thereby deepening their distrust of the government.

Hatoyama must clearly explain to Nakaima how he is trying to resolve this sticky problem. In Okinawa Prefecture, tens of thousands of people gathered in a recent mass rally to demand that the Futenma base be moved elsewhere. Hatoyama no longer has the luxury of not spelling out his proposal.

That is all the more so if he thinks it is inevitable to ask Okinawa Prefecture to keep shouldering at least part of the burden. The prime minister should have an open and honest conversation with the Okinawa governor about how to eliminate the danger posed by the Futenma base to local residents while reducing the burden borne by the prefecture.

Hatoyama's belated trip to the southern island will be a depressing one.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 29

Asahi :: Friday, April 30, 2010

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• Pier-type airstrip eyed at Henoko (04/30)


• Cyber warnings on foreign suffrage deluge tiny isle (04/30)


• Pacific isle willing to host Futenma (04/30)


• EDITORIAL: Futenma base issue (04/30)

Govt puts U.S. above all else / SDP, locals likely to be riled by giving in to Washington on Futenma

Yoshikazu Shirakawa and Chikara Shima / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appears to have decided to appease Washington at the risk of infuriating a coalition partner and residents of Okinawa Prefecture.

The government's latest proposal for resolving the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the prefecture is basically a tweaked version of a 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement. This is intended to placate Washington, which has demanded the initial plan be implemented.

However, the proposal likely will trigger a strong backlash from Okinawa residents and the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition party, both of which have opposed relocating the Futenma functions within the prefecture.

Central members of the government basically agreed on a modified version of the 2006 agreement under which the Futenma base in Ginowan will be moved to a coastal area of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in the Henoko district of Nago, the same prefecture.

The modified plan combined two ideas: revising the initial plan to reclaim the Henoko coastal area to build a new airfield and transferring Futenma's helicopter squadrons to Camp Schwab and Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

One month before his self-imposed end-of-May deadline for settling the Futenma issue, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday has finally kick-started negotiations with people with a stake in the issue.

Hatoyama plans to visit Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday for the first time since he became prime minister. He met with Torao Tokuda, a former House of Representatives lawmaker who is believed to still wield great influence in Tokunoshima, in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Hatoyama's moves apparently reflect his assumption that Tokyo's latest proposal could obtain a degree of understanding from Washington as it returns to the initial plan included in the 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the road map for realigning U.S. forces in Japan.

On Wednesday, Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, met Kazuyoshi Umemoto, head of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, and other officials for a briefing on the government proposal. After the meeting, Campbell seemed pleased and said he had a good discussion.

===

Situation made worse

However, there still is an elephant in the room: how to build consensus with parties, other than the United States, affected by the relocation.

Hatoyama has said resolving the Futenma issue will require the agreement of the United States, local governments of the envisaged new location and coalition parties.

According to sources close to Hatoyama, the prime minister originally intended as early as Friday to explain the government's plan to the Democratic Party of Japan's coalition partner SDP, which strongly opposes relocating Futenma's function within Okinawa Prefecture or to Tokunoshima island. He then planned to visit Okinawa Prefecture for talks with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, and--depending on how their meeting went--announce the plan in the prefecture.

However, Hatoyama sought Tokuda's support for the plan Wednesday. Tokuda's second son, Takeshi Tokuda, a lower house lawmaker of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party also attended the meeting and later divulged contents of the talks at a press conference.

Even though Tokunoshima is part of Tokuda's son's constituency, the prime minister appears to have miscalculated by disclosing the government plan to the LDP lawmaker before the SDP. On Wednesday evening, Hatoyama defensively told reporters, "The government hasn't officially decided a final plan yet."

Hatoyama also came away from his meeting with Tokuda almost empty-handed.

"I'd like to cooperate with the prime minister on what I can, but I can't help on the base issue," Tokuda Sr. was quoted as saying.

Tokuda suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease and has difficulty speaking. He reportedly communicated with Hatoyama by using a board with characters written on it. Although Hatoyama kept asking Tokuda for cooperation, he only managed to glean support to help arrange a meeting among Hatoyama and the island's three town mayors.

On April 18, Tokunoshima residents held a massive protest against the government plan to transfer part of Futenma's functions to the small island. Hatoyama's decision to go directly to Tokuda without meeting the town mayors has inflamed anger on the island at the government's handling of the matter.

In the wake of Hatoyama's meeting with Tokuda, Akira Okubo, mayor of Isencho, Tokunoshima, had few kind words for the government.

"I don't understand why [Hatoyama] visited [Tokuda] like that. That's not how these things should be done," he said.

Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine also is angry at the modified version of the initial plan. "It shouldn't be allowed. I'll lead the charge in opposing the plan," he said to reporters in Naha on Wednesday.

SDP Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno, meanwhile, said at a press conference that his party had not given up its opposition to the plan.

"We'll do everything we can to move Futenma's functions outside Okinawa Prefecture, or outside the country," he said.

===

Altered plan Hatoyama's 'own idea?'

Many observers doubt this latest plan is actually Hatoyama's "own plan."

In a Diet debate between party leaders on March 31, Hatoyama said he had his own idea in mind for where to transfer the Futenma base.

At that time, the government was focused on two proposals: constructing a land-based replacement facility for Futenma in Camp Schwab, or reclaiming an area off U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, also Okinawa Prefecture, and transferring Futenma's helicopter squadrons to Tokunoshima.

Hatoyama apparently was thinking of these options when he referred to "his own idea in mind."

However, U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos told Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on April 9 that these candidate sites were not realistic alternatives to the Futenma facility from a military operations perspective, and because Tokyo had not obtained the consent of local governments that would be affected.

The latest plan, which fits rather neatly with the U.S. demands, apparently was considered as a last-ditch measure.

===

Is QIP all it's cracked up to be?

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government's modified plan for relocating the air station uses the quick installation platform (QIP) method to construct a runway, which was once rejected.

Between 2000 and 2002, the former Defense Agency officially considered the QIP method for constructing the runway. However, the idea was abandoned due to technical difficulties and the high construction and maintenance costs, as well as U.S. concern that terrorist attacks on the platform could easily destroy the runway, leaving the base unable to function.

Government sources, who studied the QIP method at the time, predict "the United States will reject the plan this time, too."

The method calls for several thousand support pylons to be driven into the seabed to allow for the construction of a runway and other facilities on top of them. The method was used in the construction of Haneda Airport's new runway. The landing strip, which will go into service in October, was built using a combination of the QIP and reclamation methods.

One senior Defense Ministry official, however, said the Haneda runway was located in a quiet inland sea on a flat seabed, giving it better conditions. But the method has never been used in the construction of a military facility.

Hatoyama is apparently leaning toward the QIP method because he had been advised it would destroy fewer coral reefs than reclamation would.

However, the then Defense Agency said the coral reefs and sea grass beds would need to be transplanted to another location because the platform would block the sunlight and harm them.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa admitted during a meeting of House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there were contradicting environmental claims about the QIP method.

"Some scientists say the QIP method would be less harmful to the environment, while others say that reclamation is more environmentally friendly," Kitazawa said. "There are opposing theories."

In 2002, the Defense Agency estimated costs for building a 2,500-meter-long runway with the QIP method at 670 billion yen. Due to technological difficulties, leading marine construction firms from mainland Japan--not local contractors in Okinawa Prefecture--would build the runway.

As this will make the project less beneficial to local business, it may be difficult for the central government to get backing from locals for adoption of the QIP method.

(Apr. 30, 2010)

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US: Division remains over Futenma

April 29, 2010
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A senior US State Department official has indicated that Japan and the United States are not getting any closer to an agreement on relocating the US Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, southern Japan.

On Wednesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told reporters in Washington that the United States has not changed its view that the 2006 bilateral agreement is the best option. But he said the US would continue its consultations with Japan.

Crowley also said both countries are seeking an arrangement that is operationally viable as well as politically sustainable.

At an airport outside Washington on Wednesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said he had a good discussion with the Japanese foreign and defense ministers on the relocation issue. But he declined to offer any details.

The Japanese government is now planning to modify the existing plan and build a runway on pilings in the shallow waters off Camp Schwab in Okinawa. It is also considering moving as many of the Futenma facility's functions as possible to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers north of Okinawa.

But the people of Okinawa and Tokunoshima have each held massive rallies to protest the idea.

2010/04/29 11:34(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Roos temporarily returns to Washington

Apr 28 09:08 PM US/Eastern

WASHINGTON, April 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos temporarily returned to the United States on Wednesday, apparently to discuss with government officials the relocation of the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

Roos declined to speak with reporters upon his arrival at Dulles International Airport near Washington.

Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, also returned home on the same flight with Roos after meeting with Japanese officials in Tokyo.

Hatoyama may go with modified version of existing Futenma relocation plan

April 29, 2010

The 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