Hatoyama eyes moving 1,000 Marines from Okinawa to Tokunoshima+

TOKYO, April 28 Kyodo - Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday presented to Torao Tokuda, a key figure in Tokunoshima Island, an idea to transfer up to 1,000 U.S. Marines or some of their drills to the island from Okinawa Prefecture, but the idea was
rejected, Tokuda's son said.

The meeting between Hatoyama and Tokuda marked the first time that the
government had effectively sounded out Tokunoshima about the relocation idea as
the mayors of the three towns on the Kagoshima Prefecture island turned down
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano's request for a meeting earlier this
month.
Tokuda's son Takeshi Tokuda, a House of Representatives member of the
opposition Liberal Democratic Party, said at a press conference that the
premier revealed the idea when he visited his wheelchair-bound father, a
retired politician who hails from the island, at his home in Tokyo earlier in
the day.
''A U.S. base is not acceptable,'' Torao Tokuda, who heads the Tokushukai
medical institution and is regarded as a powerful figure in political and
medical circles, was quoted as responding to the prime minister.
Hatoyama's contact with Torao Tokuda before meeting with local community
leaders triggered criticism from the opposition camp, with the LDP's policy
chief, Shigeru Ishiba, saying, ''I don't know why he met with a local magnate
instead of those who understand the public will.''
Specifically, Hatoyama told the elder Tokuda that the government is seeking to
transfer a maximum of 1,000 of the around 2,500 troops stationed at the U.S.
Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan to Tokunoshima, 200 kilometers
northeast of Okinawa, or transferring some of the drills currently conducted at
the facility, Takeshi Tokuda said.
But no other concrete plans were presented during the meeting that lasted one
hour and 20 minutes, he said.
Later Wednesday, Hatoyama declined to reveal the details of his discussion with
Torao Tokuda when he spoke with reporters, while offering an apology again to
the people of Tokunoshima for having caused them concern due to speculation
that they may have to host the Futemma facility.
Hatoyama added that although he presented various ideas to Torao Tokuda, they
do not necessarily constitute a final government plan.
Hatoyama also asked the elder Tokuda, who is unable to speak because of illness
and expresses himself by typing words on a display, to help set up a meeting
between the prime minister and the three mayors soon, according to his son.
Takeshi Tokuda said he had contacted the mayors in the afternoon but he is not
sure when such a meeting can take place.
The three mayors already expressed their intentions Wednesday not to meet with
Hatoyama or any other government officials.
''I don't think there is a need for us to meet, because a government official
will come to convince us (to accept Futemma),'' Kosuke Ohisa, mayor of Amagi,
said.
Among various ideas, Hatoyama favors transferring the air station, located in
the center of a residential area, to Tokunoshima to fulfill a general election
pledge made last year to move the base out of the southernmost prefecture,
while local residents are strongly opposed to the idea.
Roughly 15,000 of the around 27,000 residents of the island staged a protest
rally earlier this month against the transfer of the Futemma facility.
Takeshi Tokuda said at the press conference that he had told Chief Cabinet
Secretary Hirano during a meeting Wednesday afternoon, ''Whatever the size,
Tokunoshima has no room for a U.S. base.''
In Tokunoshima, Katsuhiro Kota, secretary general of a local peace and
environment group, said Hatoyama may have met with Torao Tokuda so that he
could have an excuse to give up on the idea of transferring the military
facility to the island.
''If (a big shot like) Mr. Tokuda is opposed to it, (Hatoyama) has no other
option but to give up on the Tokunoshima plan,'' he said, adding his group will
continue raising objections to the plan until the government formally ditches
it.
==Kyodo