Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki called Friday for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to launch trilateral talks involving Washington aimed at reviewing the relocation plan for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, after a referendum confirmed strong opposition against it across the prefecture.
Abe did not directly respond to the request, made during a meeting with the governor in Tokyo, but said he intends to continue their talks, Tamaki told reporters after their discussions.
The request comes after a prefecture-wide nonbinding referendum held Sunday showed that more than 70 percent of voters rejected the more than 20-year-old plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded residential area of Ginowan to a less populated coastal zone in Henoko. The plan originated in an agreement reached by the Japanese and U.S. governments in 1996.