5,000 people rally in Kagoshima to oppose U.S. base relocation

KAGOSHIMA, Japan, May 8 Kyodo -
About 5,000 people gathered in the city of Kagoshima to protest Prime Minister
Yukio Hatoyama's proposal to relocate some functions of a major U.S. military
base in Okinawa Prefecture to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Three mayors from the island, including Isen town mayor Akira Okubo,
participated in the gathering held at a park in central Kagoshima a day after
the local leaders rejected the relocation proposal on Friday in a meeting with
the prime minister in Tokyo.
''I conveyed (Tokunoshima) residents' firm sentiment against (the proposal),''
Okubo said at the rally, which was organized by members of the Kagoshima
prefectural assembly, excluding assembly groups of the Democratic Party of
Japan.
On Friday, Hatoyama, who heads the ruling DPJ, asked the mayors to accommodate
some functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, but the local
leaders' response was that they would never accept any U.S. military facility
or drills.
Hatoyama, who has set a self-imposed deadline of May 31 to settle the base
issue, is also seeking a plan to build a pile-supported platform off the coast
of the Marines' Camp Schwab to relocate other Futemma functions within Okinawa
Prefecture.
At the rally on Saturday, Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito expressed support for the
mayors from Tokunoshima and said, ''It may be a long way, but I will oppose the
plan in cooperation with the three mayors.''
Norihisa Hamada, 23, a Kagoshima city resident who grew up on Tokunoshima until
graduating from high school, said, ''I am worried about the future of the
island, which is rich in nature, and I want residents in the prefecture to
stand by (the island).''
==Kyodo