Kitazawa Meets Okinawa Governor to Explain Futenma Policy

Naha, Okinawa Pref., June 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa met with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima on Monday to explain the central government's policy on the relocation plan for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station.
The government intends to establish two runways, to be aligned in a V shape, in Nago of Okinawa Prefecture as a substitute facility for the Futenma base in Ginowan of the same southernmost prefecture.
Kitazawa told Nakaima that the government will relocate the Futenma base in accordance with an agreement with the United States reached in May 2010 that calls for the establishment of substitute facilities in the Henoko coastal district of Nago.
Nakaima said it is extremely regrettable.
Kitazawa visited Nakaima to explain Tokyo's policy on the Futenma relocation ahead of a so-called two-plus-two meeting of the Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers on June 21.
The defense minister said it is difficult to complete the Futenma relocation in 2014 as planned under a road map for U.S. military realignment in Japan that the two countries adopted in 2006.
Tokyo and Washington now aim to agree that the two nations will strive to finish the relocation as early as possible, Kitazawa told Nakaima.
The details of the planned runways are the same as those envisioned in the 2006 road map adopted by the then Liberal Democratic Party-led government.
After wresting power from the LDP in 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan proposed one straight runway because such a facility would require a smaller size of land than two runways aligned in a V shape would.
Reflecting the proposal, a report submitted by the two nations' experts in August 2010 noted both types as possible choices.
But Tokyo gave up the straight runway option and decided to meet a U.S. call for the proposed V-shape alignment.
On measures to reduce Okinawa Prefecture's base-related burdens, Kitazawa said Japan proposed a partial return of the U.S. military's Hotel/Hotel drilling range in waters to the east of Okinawa Island.
Nakaima said the prefecture opposes a U.S. Defense Department plan to deploy MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft to the Futenma base.
Kitazawa said the central government will provide detailed data on the aircraft and make careful explanations so that it can obtain local approval.