Fourteen governors whose prefectures host U.S. military bases hope the launch of a new administration following the Aug. 30 election will meet their request of revising the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
The governors' liaison council has been calling for revisions to SOFA, which governs U.S. military operations in Japan and legal arrangements for its personnel, saying the current "improved operations" are not sufficient to resolve various issues involving the bases bases because discretion is entrusted to the U.S. side.
"A change of government was seen in the United States, and Japan may also see such a move. . . . Improved operations (of SOFA) are also coming to a limit," Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa, who heads the liaison council, said Friday after submitting a petition to the Foreign Ministry related to measures over U.S. bases in Japan.
"As this year is a period with a lot of movement, I want (the government) to think about the issue positively," he said.
The group of governors has no plans to announce support for any specific political party, he said.
The Foreign Ministry told the governors that a review of SOFA "cannot be easily implemented" and assured the group that the central government will seek an improved implementation of the agreement whenever problems occur, according to Matsuzawa.
The upcoming election could see the Democratic Party of Japan unseat the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The DPJ has given assurances that it would not seek radical changes to Japan-U.S. diplomatic relations if it comes to power, but the party says in its election manifesto it will "propose" revising SOFA and look to create "a close and equal" Japan-U.S. alliance.
Besides Matsuzawa, the group includes the governors of Okinawa, Hokkaido, Aomori, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka and Nagasaki.