Sep 26 01:14 AM US/EasternNAGO, Japan, Sept. 26 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Saturday inspected the coastal area of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, where the Marines' Futemma Air Station in the same prefecture is scheduled to be transferred, and expressed his eagerness to set the new government's approach to the relocation issue "as soon as possible."
Kitazawa, visiting Okinawa since Friday, told reporters after meeting with Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro that he will urgently discuss how to deal with the Futemma transfer with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to work out an approach.
Hatoyama, who will return to Japan later Saturday, reaffirmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday that he will not change his "basic idea" of seeking to move the air station out of the southwestern Japanese prefecture.
The proposal by the Japanese leader, who doubles as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, goes against a Japan-U.S. accord in 2006 to move heliport functions of the Futemma air station in downtown Ginowan in Okinawa to Camp Schwab by 2014.
In his meeting with the Nago mayor, Kitazawa expressed appreciation for Shimabukuro's efforts to meet the residents' needs and promote the local economy. The mayor said he basically accepts the relocation, but asked the minister that the V-shaped runways be built further offshore than planned.
Some local residents are calling for the runways to be constructed offshore, citing safety and noise concerns that could arise in the future.
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