About 30 municipal heads in Okinawa urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to rescind the government's approval of the MV-22 Osprey deployment at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

The chiefs, including Naha Mayor Takeshi Onaga and Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, handed the prime minister a petition against the odd-looking transport aircraft signed by the heads of all 41 municipalities in Okinawa. It also called on the government to drop the stalled bilateral plan to build an airstrip in Nago to replace the Futenma base.

Abe told the representatives at his office that his government will "comprehensively" consider ways to alleviate the concentration of bases in the prefecture with regard to the Japan-U.S. security alliance.