Japan PM stakes his job on resolving US base row

TOKYO: Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday staked his political future on resolving a simmering row over relocating a US airbase by a self imposed end-of-May deadline.

Hatoyama has already seen his personal approval ratings sink over the complex and highly emotive issue that has also strained relations with key ally Washington.

His government has promised to find a new location for the unpopular US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, now located on Okinawa island, but has struggled to find another place in Japan that wants to host the base.

"It is a matter of course for a prime minister ... to stake his job on every policy," the premier told parliament when asked whether he would step down if he fails on the issue.

"And it is fine with me if you assume that this of course includes the issue about a new location for Futenma."

The premier came to power in September after a landslide election win and launched a review of a 2006 pact that would have moved Futenma from a crowded urban area of Okinawa to a remote coastal part of the island.

Most people on Okinawa want the base moved off the island after complaining for decades about the burden of hosting more than 30 US military facilities, a legacy of Japan's World War II defeat to the United States.

Washington has repeatedly urged Tokyo to stick with the original 2006 deal, saying it is the best way to ease the burden for Okinawa while maintaining the defence of Japan and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

While the row has festered for months, during which the premier and his ministers have made sometimes contradictory comments on the issue, approval ratings for the Hatoyama cabinet have fallen into the 20 percent range.

The government's latest plan, reported in media but never officially confirmed, to transfer part of the base to Tokunoshima island, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Okinawa, was met by a mass protests there last Sunday.

The rally drew more than half of the island's 27,000 people, and three town mayors on the island have refused to meet with Hatoyama's right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, to discuss the issue.

Washington also opposes relocating the military facility to Tokunoshima, US assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell was quoted as saying in Friday's evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Another anti-base demonstration planned for Sunday on Okinawa is expected to draw up to 100,000 people including the governor and more than 30 mayors.