Defense Agency chief Kazuo Torashima said Tuesday he will make another visit to Okinawa Prefecture to discuss issues concerning U.S. military bases in the prefecture with local officials.
Torashima, who has just returned from the prefecture after meeting Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Friday, told a news conference that this time he will meet other officials, including Tateo Kishimoto, mayor of the city of Nago in the north of the prefecture.
The city is the planned site for a new airport that will also replace the heliport being moved from the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in central Okinawa. The planned transfer is part of a U.S. commitment to return the Futenma base to Japan.
The visit is expected to take place around the end of August.
When Torashima met with Inamine, the governor urged the central government to negotiate with the United States on a proposed 15-year time limit on the U.S. military's use of the planned airport.
The prefectural government is pushing for the time limit, although Washington is opposed to the idea.
Torashima declined to give a positive response to the proposal, saying only, "I would like to proceed with the implementation of the agreement included in the final SACO (U.S.-Japan Special Action Committee) report," which envisages the return to Japan of about 21 percent of the land being used by the U.S. military in Okinawa.
The agency chief promised Inamine he would relay the governor's message to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
Last week was the first time Torashima visited the prefecture since his appointment as agency chief in early July.