Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine urged the central government and residents of other parts of Japan to view Okinawa issues with national importance in an interview for the new year with the media.
"I would like the government and the people of mainland Japan to consider the issues concerning Okinawa Prefecture as national issues affecting the whole country and not merely Okinawa's problem," Inamine said in reference to the heavy concentration of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa.
The prefecture will mark the 30th anniversary of its return to Japanese sovereignty from U.S. military occupation in May.
The prefecture, the site of a bloody ground battle in World War II, came under U.S. military control after the end of the war in 1945 and was officially detached from Japan at the San Francisco Conference on the Japan Peace Treaty in 1952.
Looking back on the 30 years since the prefecture's return to Japan, Inamine said, "It's been a continuing process of hardship. All the governors in the past have experienced so many difficulties. Many of the people of Okinawa feel strong discontent about the U.S. military bases here and the integration and reduction of the bases is the utmost issue to be solved."
Okinawa is home to 75 percent of land allocated by Tokyo for U.S. military facilities in Japan, although it accounts only 0.6 percent of Japan's total land space.
The bases occupy about 11 percent of the prefecture's total land area and 19 percent of the land area of Okinawa's main island.