Japan's Okinawa Prefecture hopes US base location not permanently fixed.

Text of report by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Naha, 18 February: Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on Saturday [18 February] urged Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka to ensure that Japan-U.S. talks on reviewing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan do not lead to the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station becoming permanently fixed in its current location, in the center of a major urban area of Okinawa.

Nakaima reiterated the base should be moved outside the prefecture, rather than elsewhere in Okinawa as called for in the present realignment agreement between the United States and Japan. He asked that Tokyo proceed in talks with Washington by taking into account Okinawa's …