Dec 22 07:12 PM US/EasternJapan's Ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, has told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his country needs more time to decide on the future of US military bases in Japan.
"I think the message that Japan... gave to us yesterday was this is just going to take a little more time," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley on Tuesday.
The future of US military bases located in Japan has become one of the most sensitive diplomatic issues in the US-Japanese relationship.
Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is currently reviewing agreements governing the bases and the status of some 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan.
At particular issue is the Futenma airbase on southern Okinawa island, which Hatoyama has suggested he intends to move to a new location on the sub-tropical island, or even outside Okinawa.
That would breach an agreement signed in 2006 between previous conservative governments in Washington and Tokyo.
During a visit to Tokyo last month, President Barack Obama urged the Japanese government to "expeditiously" implement the original agreement stipulating the base be moved to the coastal region of Henoko.
Crowley said Tuesday that Obama's administration continues "to believe that the current plan provides the best way forward."
Crowley added the Japanese request for more time to consider their decision raises "concerns, potentially, about the impact that this will have on the timeline for implementation of the existing plan."
"But we will continue to work very closely with Japan to help resolve the questions that it has," he said.
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