ニュース 2010/05/04 Hatoyama holds meeting with Okinawa residents, states a portion of Futenma facilities will be moved to a location inside Okinawa On May 4, at a meeting held with local residents inside Futenma Number Two Elementary School, Prime Minister and DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama vowed once again, “I would like to eliminate the dangers posed by Futenma as soon as possible.” He stated that in order to achieve this, the most pressing issue is to find an alternative location for the base. He went on to call for understanding of the fact that he was considering moving a portion of the facilities at Futenma to a location within Okinawa, and vowed that the government would make every effort to rebuild Futenma city following the return of the base land to the municipality, Around 100 local residents participated in the meeting, and many pointed out the dangers of Futenma in such comments as, “Futenma is the most dangerous base in the world”, and “Protect us so that our children can live in peace”. In response to residents’ calls for “at the very least, relocation of the facilities outside the prefecture”, Hatoyama explained that since taking over the government, he had come to realize through his research that it was difficult under current conditions to move the base out of the country in view of the security of Far-East Asia and the importance of the Japan-US alliance. He went on to emphasise that the relocation of a portion of the facilities within Okinawa was being considered within the framework of finding a way to reduce the total burden placed on Okinawa, and stressed that the government would be calling for a reduction in this burden in the talks being held with the US that had started that same day. He called for residents’ understanding of these points. Finally, Hatoyama said that the purpose of the meeting was to enable him to learn about the feelings of the people of Okinawa. He added that he would like to continue to create opportunities for such direct dialogue, and showed his resolution to engage in obtaining the understanding of the people of the prefecture.