Demonstrators have gathered at a rally in Okinawa, Japan, to protest against a US military air base on the island.<\/p>\n
Sunday’s [26 April 2010] rally, near Kadena air base, the largest US military facility in the Asia-Pacific region, is expected to include Hirokazu Nakaima, Okinawa’s governor, and more than 30 town mayors.<\/p>\n
Many on the island are unhappy with the heavy American military presence – a legacy of Japan’s World War II defeat – complaining of noise, pollution and frictions with US soldiers.<\/p>\n
The issue threatens the political future of Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister, who has staked his job on settling the issue.<\/p>\n
The row centres on the unpopular Futenma US Marine Corps Air Station, which under a 2006 deal between Tokyo and Washington, was to be moved from the crowded city of Ginowan to the quieter coastal Henoko area of Okinawa.<\/p>\n
After taking power in September in a landslide election, Hatoyama said the base may be moved off the island entirely instead.<\/p>\n
But a search for alternative locations has not been successful, meeting instead with more local protests.<\/p>\n
In the run-up to\u00a0crucial upper house elections due in July, Hatoyama has seen his approval ratings dive as criticism has grown of his perceived dithering on the issue.<\/p>\n
Sticking points<\/strong><\/p>\n Hatoyama\u00a0has set himself a deadline of late May to resolve the issue, while the US maintains that it wants Tokyo to stick with the original plan.<\/p>\n On the eve of the protest, the Washington Post<\/em> said the Japanese government had indicated it would broadly accept the 2006 pact.<\/p>\n But the government denied that on Saturday, with Hatoyama repeating his objection to the 2006 plan.<\/p>\n “The report is not true … We cannot accept the existing plan,” he said.<\/p>\n The US set up the Futenma air base in 1945 as it took the island in one of World War II’s bloodiest battles.<\/p>\n It did not return Okinawa to Japan until 1972 and still operates more than 30 military facilities on the island, which is located near China, Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n Under the 2006 agreement\u00a0– which requires legal approval from Nakaima, the Okinawa governor – Futenma facilities would be shifted to reclaimed land around Camp Schwab in Henoko and about 8,000 marines would move to the US territory of Guam.<\/p>\n Japan, which committed to pacifism in its post-WWII constitution, relies heavily on the US, its treaty partner, for its security.<\/p>\n The US, in turn, stations some 47,000 troops in the country, more than half of them on Okinawa.<\/p>\n Residents of the island have previously protested against the heavy US military presence, notably following a series of incidents allegedly involving US personnel, including the alleged rapes of a schoolgirl and a 19-year-old local woman.<\/p>\n