Minister for Okinawa Koji Omi said Friday that Okinawa Prefecture is as safe as other parts of Japan.
Omi was reacting to cancellations of trips by students and other groups to the prefecture following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Okinawa Prefecture has the highest concentration of U.S. military bases in Japan.
The minister also said he favors dispatching a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer equipped with the Aegis antimissile system to the Indian Ocean to support the expected U.S. attack on Afghanistan.