Newly appointed Defense Agency chief Kazuo Torashima has had to retract a remark that it would be difficult to put a 15-year time limit on the use of a new airport for the U.S. Marines to be built in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
Okinawa Prefecture is demanding the time limit as a condition for allowing construction of a replacement heliport for the Futenma Air Station, in Ginowan, central Okinawa. Washington opposes any time limit on U.S. use of the base.
In a rare move, Torashima called a news conference Wednesday night to withdraw a comment he made during an interview earlier in the day, when he noted that the 15-year time limit would be difficult because "it is very difficult, or maybe impossible, to predict what the international situation will be at that time."