At a Cabinet meeting May 30, the government finalized its basic policy on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The action followed a final Japan-U.S. agreement May 1 on realignment aimed at strengthening deterrents and reducing Japan's burden of hosting U.S. military installations.
However, the settlement leaves some important issues unresolved. To start with, the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station at Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, was postponed for eight more years. Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iba expressed deep regret over that decision, which came 10 years after the Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa first agreed that the facility would be relocated.
In the latest negotiations, Japanese and U.S. officials chose the coastal area of the Marine Corps' Camp Schwab at Nago as the alternative site but agreed to leave Futenma as is until the new facility is completed in 2014. Iba said he will demand the closure of Futenma, or its relocation to an overseas site, by 2008.
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