The mayor of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, said Friday he has asked the United States to implement the agreed closure of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station and the return of the land by 2008.
At a news conference in Washington following a series of talks with State Department and Pentagon officials earlier this week, Yoichi Iha said the current plan to relocate the helicopter operations of the Futenma base in Ginowan to another site in the prefecture is "the worst option."
The functions of the Futenma base should be moved outside of Okinawa, given that the prefecture hosts the bulk of the U.S. military presence in Japan, he said.
Iha said the Defense Department expressed strong frustration with the delay in the relocation project.