Kan to ease burden on Okinawa in context of Japan-U.S. alliance

NAHA, Japan, June 23 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday the government will seek to ease the
burden on Okinawa Prefecture of hosting U.S. military bases, but suggested he
will make such efforts only in a manner that does not harm the Japan-U.S.
relationship.
''I would like to make every effort to ease the burden while conforming with
the Japan-U.S. agreement,'' Kan said in a meeting with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu
Nakaima, referring to the bilateral accord reached last month to relocate a key
U.S. base within the prefecture despite calls from locals to move it out of the
southern prefecture.
Nakaima told Kan that the ''situation in Okinawa is tough,'' apparently
pointing to growing frustration among people in the prefecture with the central
government's policy over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air
Station.
Kan, on his first visit to Okinawa since assuming office earlier this month,
attended a ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the Battle of
Okinawa, in which over 200,000 soldiers and civilians died in the closing days
of World War II.
Kan's predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, stepped down to take responsibility for
political confusion partly caused by the Futenma relocation issue.
Hatoyama had pledged to move the base outside of Okinawa or even Japan but
later admitted that it would be a difficult goal to achieve, in a move that led
to the departure of the Social Democratic Party from the ruling coalition led
by his Democratic Party of Japan.
Speaking to around 5,500 people attending the ceremony at Peace Memorial Park
in Itoman city, Kan offered an apology to the people of Okinawa for having to
bear the burden of hosting the bulk of the U.S. military presence in Japan.
''I offer an apology as a representative of all Japanese people,'' Kan said.
The government ''will make a further serious commitment to easing the burden of
hosting the bases and removing dangers'' linked to their existence.
But Kan also said that Okinawa's acceptance of the U.S. military presence ''has
led to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region,'' indicating the
government has no intention of immediately taking steps to reduce the presence.
Around 75 percent of the land used exclusively by the U.S. military in Japan is
located in Okinawa, which accounts for only 0.6 percent of Japanese soil.
Okinawa has called for reducing the heavy U.S. military presence on the island,
saying local people have been suffering from noise at military bases and crimes
involving U.S. servicemen.
At the ceremony, Nakaima said the obligation of hosting the U.S. bases in Japan
must be equally shared among the Japanese people. ''I would like the burden (on
Okinawa) to be visibly reduced,'' he said.
Japan and the United States announced a new agreement on May 28 for the
relocation of the Futenma base from a crowded residential area in Ginowan to a
less populated coastal area in Nago, another city in Okinawa Prefecture.
The two countries are scheduled to decide by late August on the details of the
relocation plan such as a specific location and construction methods for the
replacement facility.
Kan denied that the government would implement the plan after bilateral studies
without seeking the understanding of people in Okinawa.
''I would like to sincerely talk'' with them, he told reporters after attending
the ceremony.
This year, the names of 80 people were added to a list of those who perished in
the war that is engraved on a cenotaph in the park, bringing the total to
240,931.
Around 94,000 civilians were killed in the three-month battle between Japanese
and U.S. troops in 1945. Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation after the war
until 1972.
Wednesday also marks the 50th anniversary of the entering into force of the
bilateral security treaty -- the reason for the U.S. military presence in
Japan.
==Kyodo