Japan Accepts Base in Okinawa
TOKYO—Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced Sunday that he will accept a controversial American plan for stationing troops in Japan, saying he was persuaded that the need to maintain an American “military deterrence” in an uncertain region forced to him to break one of his main campaign pledges.
Mr. Hatoyama made the announcement in Okinawa, where he apologized to the governor in a nationally televised meeting for failing to live up to his promise to reduce the American military presence on the southern island.
“I had said I would try to relocate the base outside of Okinawa, but I was not able to keep my words,” the prime minister said. “And for the difficulties that local people have had to experience, I would like to apologize to the Okinawan people,” he added.