JM News UK

 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the governor of the southern island of Okinawa clashed on Friday over the relocation of a contentious U.S. air base, an irritant in U.S.-Japan ties, a week before Abe's high-profile visit to the United States. Okinawa, host to the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan, and Abe's government have been at odds since anti-base conservative Takeshi Onaga was elected governor last November and Okinawa candidates from Abe's ruling party lost in a general election. Tensions over plans to move the U.S. Marines' Futenma base to land to be reclaimed from waters near the town of Henoko in northern Okinawa rose last month when Onaga ordered a halt to underwater survey work. Onaga insists the base be moved outside Okinawa, where many residents have long resented the fact that the prefecture hosts nearly half the U.S. military forces in Japan.