Japanese PM: moving U.S. base fully out of island difficult
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Hatoyama, whose support rating has plummeted due to the Futemma base relocation issue, will also visit the existing Futemma air station in Ginowan and the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago.
He is scheduled to hold talks with Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine and other local leaders and citizens in the prefecture to discuss, among other things, the coastal area of Nago, off the Marines' Camp Schwab, inheriting the helicopter functions of the Futemma base currently located in the residential Ginowan area of the island.
In his first visit to Okinawa since taking office seven months ago, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader was met outside the Naha city hall prior to his meeting with Nakaima by hundreds of demonstrators shouting, "Hatoyama, keep your promises!"
This followed a large demonstration in Yomitan village, Okinawa on April 25, during which 90,000 residents and local officials called for the U.S. military and the Futemma base specifically, to be permanently removed from the island.
Hatoyama raised the hopes of the local citizens of Okinawa during his election campaign as he promised to move the base off the island to ease the burden on the people, but has come under increasing fire as it looks likely he will renege on this promise.
Hatoyama has a self-imposed deadline of the end of May to resolve the issue, the latest plan of which would see a new airstrip built on an elevated platform in the shallow waters off the coast in Nago, Okinawa, instead of on reclaimed land from the sea, as per an existing bilateral accord reached in 2006 between the U.S. and Japan, under the previous Liberal Democratic Party.
The central government's current plan, according to political sources close to the matter, also involves the possibility of transferring some of the exercises conducted by the air units at the Futemma base to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, a tiny island about 200 kilometers northeast of the main Okinawa island and 1,400 kilometers south of Tokyo.
This idea has also been met with opposition from Tokunoshima residents and officials as well as concern from Washington who maintains the existing 2006 accord represents the best way forward and has stipulated local support is central to the acceptance of any relocation proposal submitted by Tokyo.
Later this week, the mayors of three towns on Tokunoshima are scheduled to visit the prime minister in Tokyo to again voice their strong opposition to hosting any U.S. military facility.
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