The local governor in Kagoshima Prefecture said Friday he will permit a marine boring survey around an uninhabited island that has been chosen as the new site of a U.S. military takeoff and landing training facility set to be relocated under a long-stalled plan.
Kagoshima Gov. Koichi Shiota announced at a local assembly meeting that he will accept a Defense Ministry request to start the survey in waters surrounding the 8-square-kilometer Mage Island, which is located about 12 kilometers west of Tanegashima Island in the prefecture.
The decision marks the first step in relocating the training site for carrier-borne aircraft from Iwoto Island in the Pacific under a 2011 Japan-U.S. accord.