Japan's premier, under fire over a row on an unpopular US airbase, was Friday due to meet three mayors from a remote southern island over plans to relocate some military operations there.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has faced heavy criticism since he backtracked Tuesday on an election pledge made last year to move the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma entirely off the larger far-southern island of Okinawa.
Instead, the centre-left leader conceded this week that most of the American base operations will have be moved within Okinawa, as originally agreed by previous conservative governments in Washington and Tokyo in 2006.
With a self-imposed May 31 deadline to resolve the damaging row, Hatoyama's government had for months sought alternative locations for the US forces, only to trigger protest rallies at all of the reported relocation sites.
One of the options under consideration involved moving 1,000 Marines and their helicopters from Futenma to the small island of Tokunoshima, 200 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Okinawa, according to reports.
But when the plan was reported in local media last month, more than half of the 27,000 people who live on the remote subtropical island staged a mass anti-base rally, led by the three local mayors.
The mayors at first refused to meet central government officials, but later agreed to visit Hatoyama in Tokyo on Friday at 0600 GMT.
The trio were reportedly due to submit an anti-base petition with 25,000 signatures, and one of the mayors, Akira Okubo, said before the talks: "I will stand strong in the meeting so the premier will give up on the idea."
The United States after its World War II victory set up scores of bases in Japan and, under a post-war security pact, is committed to defending the country, which has renounced offensive military action.
But many of the bases have triggered strong opposition from nearby residents, who complain of aircraft noise, pollution and crime, especially on Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops.
Hatoyama and his left-leaning allies have long pledged to "ease the burden" on Okinawa, but their plans to relocate the Futenma base elsewhere have failed to produce viable alternatives while badly straining ties with Washington.
The United States has urged Japan to stick with the original pact and, according to reports, has strongly rejected the idea of moving any of Futenma's Marines to Tokunoshima as operationally unworkable.
Under Hatoyama's latest plan, the small island may instead be asked to host some US military training drills, news reports said.
The chief government spokesman, Hirofumi Hirano, said Friday that Hatoyama is planning to visit Okinawa again on May 15, following his first trip there as premier on Tuesday, to explain his Futenma relocation plan in detail.
The government has not yet announced its plan, but media reports say it wants to move the base from Okinawa's Ginowan city to coastal Henoko, as agreed in 2006. The plan is reported to include the construction of a runway on stilts, rather than landfill, in a bid to protect corals and a marine habitat that is home to the rare dugong sea mammal.
Hatoyama told media late Thursday: "I have said I will make the decision by the end of May. I have no intention of changing that."
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