Thousands of people rallied in southwestern Japan yesterday to protest against a government plan to move part of an unpopular US airbase to Kagoshima Prefecture.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has faced heavy criticism since he backtracked on Tuesday on an election pledge last year to move the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma entirely off the larger island of Okinawa in the far south.
Instead, the prime minister conceded that most of the US base operations will have to be moved within Okinawa, as originally agreed by previous governments in Washington and Tokyo in 2006.
PHOTO: REUTERS
As part of his effort to “ease the burden” on Okinawa, Hatoyama is still considering moving 1,000 Marines and their aircraft from Futenma to Tokunoshima, a remote island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Yesterday’s demonstration was held at a park in Kagoshima City, a day after Hatoyama pleaded with three mayors from Tokunoshima to allow in US Marines.
“I clearly told Prime Minister Hatoyama that Tokunoshima will never host the US base at all,” Akira Okubo, one of the mayors, told the rally. “There should be a way to resolve it not by sharing the base, but reducing it.”
Protesters marched through central Kagoshima, chanting: “We don’t need the base.”
Washington has also rejected the idea of moving any of Futenma’s Marines to Tokunoshima as operationally unworkable.
Many of the bases have triggered strong opposition from nearby residents, who complain of aircraft noise, pollution and crime, especially on Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops.
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