Japan Sees Futenma Move to Henoko as Only Viable Solution

Tokyo, Sept. 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government reiterated on Monday that relocating the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko district of Nago in the southwestern Japan prefecture is “the only viable solution” to problems involving the military base. “We will do our best in reducing burdens from military bases on local residents,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference in Tokyo after a candidate who supports the Futenma relocation to Henoko won Sunday’s gubernatorial election in Okinawa. The central government will strengthen defense of the country’s southwest while actively promoting Okinawa development as a national strategy, he said. He declined to say when the United States will return the Futenma site. “We’ll closely communicate with the United States to achieve its full return at an early date once the procedures for providing the replacement facility are completed,” he said of the Henoko facility now under construction. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]