Okada leaves for U.S., to attend G-8 ministerial meeting in Canada+

TOKYO, March 28 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada left Sunday for the United States and Canada to meet with U.S. officials and to attend a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting from Monday that will focus on such issues as nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.

On Monday, Okada will meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates near
Washington and then go to Canada for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton as part of his efforts to work out the thorny issue of where to
relocate a U.S. military airfield in Okinawa Prefecture and discuss the
situation in Iran and other issues.
Okada has said he does not expect in-depth exchanges over the relocation of the
U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, because the meetings with the U.S.
officials would take place only days after he explained to U.S. Ambassador to
Japan John Roos how Tokyo is reviewing the matter.
According to diplomatic sources, Japan has come up with an alternative plan to
the existing bilateral accord on the relocation issue. The inland part of the
U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, an area off the coast of the U.S.
Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, also Okinawa, and Tokunoshima Island in
Kagoshima Prefecture are seen as alternative candidate sites.
Japan is likely to face a rough road ahead in settling the issue by the
self-imposed end-of-May deadline, as the United States has so far maintained
that the 2006 bilateral accord to move the Futemma facility, located in a
crowded residential area of Ginowan, to the coastal area of Camp Schwab is the
best option.
Local politicians and residents in Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S.
military facilities in Japan, as well as in Kagoshima have also reacted
negatively to the plan reported by media.
The 2006 deal, which is part of a broader agreement on the reconfiguration of
U.S. forces in Japan, has been put under review after the Democratic Party of
Japan realized a historic change of power last year with a pledge to seek what
it calls more ''equal'' Japan-U.S. ties.
During the two-day meeting of ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States in the resort city of Gatineau,
Quebec, Okada is especially placing importance on discussions of nuclear
disarmament, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.
Japan and Australia, both relying on the U.S. nuclear deterrent, recently
submitted a joint proposal for the upcoming Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
review conference in May in New York, calling on states possessing nuclear
weapons to make an early commitment to reducing their nuclear arsenals.
Through the ministerial meeting, Okada will seek support for the proposal.
It is the first time for Okada to attend the G-8 foreign ministers' meeting,
which is also expected to discuss the Iranian and North Korean nuclear
standoffs, and assistance to war-torn Afghanistan and quake-hit Haiti.
After the meeting, Okada will head to New York to attend Wednesday's
international donors' conference in Haiti. Okada will return to Japan on
Friday, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
==Kyodo