Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa has repeated that he will take charge of presenting the environmental impact report needed to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa despite being censured by the Upper House Friday.
"No matter what decision the Cabinet makes (about the report's submission), I would like to be ready to respond any time," Ichikawa said to reporters Sunday in Niiza, Saitama Prefecture, after visiting areas near the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The government is to submit an environmental impact report to Okinawa by the end of the year as a step toward relocating Futenma air base elsewhere in the prefecture under a bilateral plan that has been fiercely opposed by local residents for over a decade.
As for a policy review of the ban on arms exports aimed at allowing Japanese companies to take part in international weapons development projects, Ichikawa said he will try to reach a conclusion by the end of the year.
