Japan says it will take months to sift through Futenma options

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Japan says it will take months to sift through Futenma options
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, November 17, 2009

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Japanese prime minister on Tuesday said it would take his government months to consider alternatives for relocating Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, thrusting the years-long saga even farther from resolution despite U.S. insistence that Camp Schwab remains the only viable option.

After meeting with other ministers and the leaders of the two minority parties in his left-center coalition Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said his fledgling government simply needed more time.

“I understand the importance of the current agreement between Japan and the U.S.,” Hatoyama told reporters Tuesday in Tokyo, according to a transcript of a press conference at the prime minister’s residence Tuesday evening. “However, we are pursuing other alternatives … by understanding the Okinawan people’s sentiments. I think we need months.”

Japan officials said a working group comprising representatives of the three ruling coalition parties will consider multiple relocation plans, including the Camp Schwab one. Officials also confirmed that they will allocate funds to implement the current relocation plan from the state budget for fiscal 2010 and that ongoing environmental assessments will be continued.

“We have agreed that the three parties will consider how to reduce the burden of the Futenma facility,” said Tomoko Abe, a Social Democratic Party representative who attended the meeting.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66691