ID :
122026
Fri, 05/14/2010 - 13:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/122026
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EXCLUSIVE: Hatoyama to Meet with Prefectural Governors on Futenma May 27
Tokyo, May 13 (Jiji Press)--The government and the National
Governors Association on Thursday decided to hold an extraordinary meeting of the association on May 27 with the participation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for talks on issues related to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa Prefecture, sources said.
At the meeting, to be held in Tokyo, Hatoyama is likely to ask the
prefectural governors for cooperation in sharing the burden stemming from
the Futenma relocation, the sources told Jiji Press. But the governors are
seen to voice caution.
Hatoyama requested the governors group to hold a meeting to discuss
Futenma issues when he met on Thursday with Wataru Aso, president of the
association and governor of the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka.
Hatoyama told reporters Thursday evening that he plans to tell the
governors about the importance of protecting peace in Japan under the
country's security alliance with the United States.
The prime minister also said he wants all people in Japan to have
interest in the Futenma issue.
On Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano met with
assembly members on Tokunoshima town on Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima
Prefecture, north of Okinawa, and said that the government is considering
transferring part of Futenma's training operations to the island and having
Self-Defense Forces bases in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan host
such operations in rotation as part of measures to relocate the Marine base
functions.
Hatoyama may present the plan at the extraordinary meeting of the
governors association, according to the sources.
But Katsusada Hirose, governor of Oita Prefecture, part of Kyushu,
has said that he had never heard of such a plan.
Harumi Takahashi, governor of Hokkaido, northern Japan, stressed at
a press conference Thursday that Hokkaido has already made efforts to help
reduce Okinawa's base-hosting burden, while sounding positive on attending
the coming extraordinary meeting of governors.
U.S. Marines are conducting live-fire artillery exercises at the
Ground Self-Defense Force's Yausubetsu firing range in Hokkaido.
END
Governors Association on Thursday decided to hold an extraordinary meeting of the association on May 27 with the participation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for talks on issues related to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa Prefecture, sources said.
At the meeting, to be held in Tokyo, Hatoyama is likely to ask the
prefectural governors for cooperation in sharing the burden stemming from
the Futenma relocation, the sources told Jiji Press. But the governors are
seen to voice caution.
Hatoyama requested the governors group to hold a meeting to discuss
Futenma issues when he met on Thursday with Wataru Aso, president of the
association and governor of the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka.
Hatoyama told reporters Thursday evening that he plans to tell the
governors about the importance of protecting peace in Japan under the
country's security alliance with the United States.
The prime minister also said he wants all people in Japan to have
interest in the Futenma issue.
On Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano met with
assembly members on Tokunoshima town on Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima
Prefecture, north of Okinawa, and said that the government is considering
transferring part of Futenma's training operations to the island and having
Self-Defense Forces bases in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan host
such operations in rotation as part of measures to relocate the Marine base
functions.
Hatoyama may present the plan at the extraordinary meeting of the
governors association, according to the sources.
But Katsusada Hirose, governor of Oita Prefecture, part of Kyushu,
has said that he had never heard of such a plan.
Harumi Takahashi, governor of Hokkaido, northern Japan, stressed at
a press conference Thursday that Hokkaido has already made efforts to help
reduce Okinawa's base-hosting burden, while sounding positive on attending
the coming extraordinary meeting of governors.
U.S. Marines are conducting live-fire artillery exercises at the
Ground Self-Defense Force's Yausubetsu firing range in Hokkaido.
END
