"That's the price you pay for our protection." - A high-ranking US official referring to the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three American soldiers.
by Risa Kato, Takeo Azuma and Satoshi Ogawa
from Yomiuri
While it has been agreed that U.S. military forces stationed in Japan will be largely realigned by 2014, the government is now in the difficult position of trying to satisfy both the U.S. government and Okinawa prefectural government over the biggest issue surrounding the realignment--the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan in the prefecture.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone visited Naha and held talks with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima over the issue.
During the meeting, which was open to the media, Nakaima again demanded that the central government modify the Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of the air station to the coastal area of Camp Schwab in Nago in the prefecture.
At the start of the meeting--held in the governor's reception room and attended by about 50 reporters--Nakaima said: "Seventy-five percent of the U.S. military facilities in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa Prefecture. I've asked [the government] to reduce the excessive burden on Okinawa."
Regarding the relocation of the air station, he said: "The government should pay considerable attention to local residents [in the area earmarked for the relocation]. For example, I believe [the new facilities] should be constructed as far off the coast as possible."
Nakasone asked for the governor's understanding over the realignment and relocation, saying: "The U.S. forces' realignment is very important. Implementing the realignment [as agreed between Japan and the United States] will ease the burden on the prefecture's residents."
The prefectural government is concerned about noise and other issues that will be caused by the new facilities to be relocated near Camp Schwab.
The noise issue can be resolved by constructing the facilities off the coast, but this could potentially harm the maritime environment, giving the central government another headache to deal with.
At a press conference at a hotel in Naha after the meeting, Nakasone was asked about Nakaima's request to construct the new facilities farther from the planned site. "It'll be difficult to change [the plan] without appropriate reasons," Nakasone said.
Since March last year, the government has been studying the impact of the planned new facilities on the coastal area of Camp Schwab and is expected to submit to Nakaima this spring an outline on the results of the environmental assessment and draw up a final report before the end of autumn.
The central government will decide upon a specific site for the planned facilities soon.
The governor has the power to authorize a project to reclaim land from publicly owned waters.
To complete the relocation before the agreed deadline of 2014, the central government needs the governor's permission to reclaim land as early as possible, but whether the government can obtain Nakaima's blessing for the plan is uncertain.
Before his meeting with Nakaima, Nakasone visited the coastal area of Camp Schwab. During the visit, he encountered demonstrators protesting against any relocation to the area, highlighting the sensitivity of the issue in the prefecture.
Meanwhile, the final agreement between Japan and the United States over the realignment of the U.S. military forces, completed in May 2006, defines the realignment as a package of plans, each of which cannot be modified individually.
If the air station relocation fails, it would hamper other parts of the agreement, such as the relocation of a section of the U.S. Marine Corps troops stationed in Okinawa Prefecture to Guam and the handover of sites and facilities used by the U.S. forces in the prefecture.
The government also is worried that failure of the realignment could damage ties with the United States.
The Foreign Ministry is hopeful the air station relocation issue will not cause the prefecture to be the focus of further disputes between the two countries.
Nakasone's latest visit to Okinawa is believed to have been a diplomatic signal to U.S. President Barack Obama's administration that Japan is eagerly engaged in the realignment issue.
U.S. opposition
While acknowledging Nakaima's position on the importance of maintaining the Japan-U.S. security framework, the government also is trying to find a way to review the bilateral agreement and move the planned facilities to an offshore location more remote than that mentioned in the agreement, without influencing the ongoing environment assessment.
However, the U.S. government is highly unlikely to accept any review of the agreement because it had to approve it despite opposition from the U.S. Marine Corps and other concerned bodies.
Opposition against the realignment lingers within the U.S. military because it is believed it will make it difficult for the marines to respond swiftly to an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula when a unit of combat troops currently stationed in Okinawa is transferred to Guam.
Reigniting the Futenma issue is akin to "opening a Pandora's box," a source close to the U.S. government said.
Last year, Tokyo proposed a modified plan to Washington that would see the air station facilities constructed at a site about 50 meters offshore from the agreed site of the coastal area of Camp Schwab. However, a U.S. government official instantly dismissed the proposal, saying it was impossible to inform U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates of the proposal.
A Defense Department official said any review of the final agreement would mean the relocation of Futenma Air Station could not be completed earlier than 2014, adding that Japan is responsible for relocating the air base in line with the agreement signed between the two countries.
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