Japanese residents call for base closure

GINOWAN, Japan, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- More than 20,000 residents of Ginowan, Japan, took to the streets Sunday to call for the closure of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, officials said.

"Island residents (of Okinawa) rather than the Pentagon should decide the fate of this U.S. military facility," Ginowan Mayor Yoicha Iha told the crowd.

Pentagon officials and leaders of the new Japanese government led by Yukio Hatoyama are in dispute about the timetable for the transfer of the base to a less populated part of the island, Kyodo news reported Sunday.

Pentagon officials oppose a plan by Hatoyama's government to accelerate the transfer, agreed to in 2006 as part of a plan to re-organize the U.S. military presence in Japan. Nearly 47,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed throughout Japan.

Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama have agreed not to discuss the base dispute during Obama's trip to Japan Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Sunday.

"There has been a tacit agreement that silliness, in which the top Japanese and U.S. leaders discuss the issue but can't decide on anything, should be avoided," Okada told TV Asahi.