Scheduling for Okada's U.S. visit faces difficulties+

TOKYO, Oct. 28 Kyodo - The schedule arrangement for Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada's visit to the United States for talks over the relocation of a U.S. air base in Japan has run into rough waters as the U.S. side is seeking Tokyo's policy determination on the issue, bilateral diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Okada aims to explain during his meeting with U.S. Secretary State Hillary
Clinton that it will take more time for policy coordination on the relocation
of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, but the
U.S. side has shown reluctance about the meeting as long as Japanese policy is
not yet determined, according to the sources.
On the Futemma issue, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed Japan last
week to decide on its stance before President Barack Obama's visit to Japan in
November, calling the existing bilateral accord ''the best alternative for
everyone'' and the only viable option.
Gates referred to the 2006 Japan-U.S. accord to move the air station from a
downtown residential area of Ginowan to a less densely populated area in Nago
by 2014.
Meanwhile, on Okada's calls to move the functions of the Futemma Air Station to
the nearby U.S. Kadena Air Base, a U.S. government source said there is no
point in talking about an improbable scenario.
==Kyodo