By Justin McDonnell
The U.S. military presence in Okinawa continues to be a fraught issue for Japan.
In a survey that came out this week, 64 percent of voters in Okinawa prefecture in Japan rejected the central government’s plan to reclaim parts of the Henoko district in the city of Nago for the relocation of the Futenma Air Station, the base of operations for the U.S. Marine Corps in Japan. Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s approval is necessary for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his cabinet to go ahead with an agreement between Tokyo and Washington to build the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF). Although he continues to call for the U.S. government to relocate outside the prefecture, Nakaima is set to make his decision on whether to approve or reject the central government’s proposal next month.
Under the bilateral Okinawa Consolidation Plan, which seeks to reduce the U.S. footprint in Okinawa, the Futenma base will be closed once its replacement airstrip is operational in Nago. Also, last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a national defense bill that will include a realignment budget to move Marine forces to Guam. The Senate will vote on the bill in the next few weeks. Japan will pay a third of the cost for the move, roughly $3.1 billion of the projected 8.6 billion.
The U.S. has tried to ease tensions between its military presence and the local population. It long delayed the scheduled arrival of the MV-22B tilt-rotor Osprey transport aircraft, which was set to replace CH-46 helicopters. With crashes in Morocco and Florida in 2012, there were mounting fears regarding the safety of the aircraft and there was considerable local opposition to deployment. Despite the pushback, a total of 24 Osprey have been deployed to Futenma. The Self-Defense Forces also have plans to deploy Osprey by 2015. The Abe administration is currently working to shift drills using the Osprey onto the Honshu mainland.
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