Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine said Monday that he strongly hopes Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will take up issues related to U.S. bases in Okinawa when he meets Friday with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington.
"I assume that the major topic of the meeting will be issues concerning July's summit of the Group of Eight major countries in Okinawa. But I strongly expect (Mori) to take up on issues concerning the U.S. military bases in Okinawa, as it is the major problem here," Inamine told a regular news conference.
Mori is on a nine-day tour of Japan's G8 partners ahead of the July 21-23 summit in the prefecture.
Inamine also said there had not been enough discussion within the government on Okinawa's requests concerning environmental problems at the U.S. bases and the review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.