A peace march calling for the reduction of Okinawa's burden from hosting U.S. forces was held Saturday in the southern island prefecture, a day before the 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japan.
For the first time since taking office in October last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Okinawa to mark the anniversary.
The prefecture, which is geographically closer to Taiwan than to Tokyo, is home to 70% of the total acreage exclusively used by U.S. military installations in Japan, despite accounting for only 0.6% of the country's total land area.