No more U.S. bases, Okinawa governor says

The tiny prefecture of Okinawa has shouldered a heavy burden of hosting U.S. military bases for decades, its governor said Thursday as he prepared to meet with federal officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss his objections to a Marine air base.

Gov. Takeshi Onaga, en route to Washington, stopped in Honolulu this week to meet with members of Hawaii’s delegation to convey his objections to the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to rural Okinawa.

At a news conference in Waikiki, Onaga said he met Wednesday with U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who "understands the situation," but added that she believed resolution should be sought between the Okinawan and Japanese governments. Hirono’s office confirmed the meeting with Onaga. Details were not disclosed.

Onaga also had planned to meet with U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, and Gov. David Ige, who is of Okinawan descent. He declined to discuss what they would be talking about.

Onaga, elected in November on promises to fight the move of Futenma, has said he hopes to present his case to officials in Washington.

A plan formulated in 1996 between the Japanese and American governments would move Futenma from a populated neighborhood in southern Okinawa to a less developed area in the northern region of Henoko.

But anti-military sentiment is high on Okinawa, where residents worried about safety, crime and noise want the base moved off the island altogether. Recent protests have attracted as many as 35,000 people.

"If the burden is shared, we accept hosting U.S. military bases and also we will support the Japan-U.S. security arrangement — if the burden is fair for Japan as a whole," Onaga said. "However, we have shouldered such a heavy burden over the past 70 years, if there will be a new phase in Henoko, it means that we have to shoulder such a heavy burden another 70 years, or another 100 years."

Okinawa houses the majority of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan. In terms of space, 74 percent of U.S. bases in Japan are on the island that has only 0.6 percent of Japan’s land.

Since the end of World War II, Japan — which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukyus, in 1879 — has hosted U.S. troops under a postwar alliance in which Japan renounced war except to defend itself while the U.S. agreed to provide security. Okinawa’s southern location is a strategic advantage with proximity to other U.S. military bases.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan to have a bigger military role at home and internationally and says the base relocation is vital for its alliance with the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.