Despite opposition from landowners, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is ready to begin procedures that will enable the state to continue leasing a number of sites in Okinawa Prefecture to the U.S. military, according to government officials.
The Naha Regional Defense Facilities Administration Bureau last month asked Mori to begin the procedures, saying the landowners are unlikely to agree to allow use of their land ahead of the expiry of the state's current forcible use arrangements at the end of next March, they said.
The government will later ask the landowners to sign new leases. Even if they refuse, the prime minister can sign them instead under an April 1997 amendment to the Special Land Use Law.
After the signing, Okinawa Prefecture's expropriation commission will be asked to make a final decision on the matter, but if the panel makes no decision in two months, the prime minister can opt to continue using the land under the revised law.