Hatoyama eager to amend Constitution for decentralization of power+

TOKYO, Dec. 26 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he is willing to move ahead with a
plan to amend the Constitution in line with his party's drive to transfer power
to local governments.
''I would like to see the Constitution revised in the sense that the positions
of the central government and local governments would be reversed,'' Hatoyama
said in a recording for a radio program.
He suggested he does not want to put the focus of the constitutional reform
debate on whether or how Article 9, which bars the use of military force in
settling international disputes, should be changed.
''What we want to do is help make the Constitution serve the country in the
best possible manner,'' he said.
Speaking about the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air
Station in Okinawa, Hatoyama questioned the idea of moving it to Guam, which
has been advocated by the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner
for his Democratic Party of Japan.
''It looks as though having everything at Futemma transferred to the U.S.
territory of Guam is unrealistic in light of the deterrence'' provided by the
U.S. military, Hatoyama said.
The DPJ-led coalition has decided to delay naming the relocation site for the
Futemma airfield despite pressure from the United States to stick to the deal
agreed on under a 2006 bilateral accord. The agreement calls for the Futemma
facility to be moved to Nago, another Okinawa city.
==Kyodo