By Prensa Latina,
Tokyo : Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda, promised on Monday to “ease their burden” and listen to inhabitants of Okinawa Island, as they reject the US military presence in the territory.
He made his remarks at a ceremony to mark the end of the battle for Okinawa, which brought Japanese and US troops face to face in May and June 1945.
Fukuda also said he will do his best to improve the life of the people there.
Deployment of US marines in this province of southern Japan has triggered multiple incidents, including sexual attacks, the latest of them involving a US troop, who raped a Japanese teen girl in February and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Fukuda’s commitment came amid his resounding fall in surveys and strong disagreements with opposition, leading to the approval of a non-confidence vote against him by the Senate in early June.
Okinawa is home to 14 US military bases, representing the 75 percent of such US facilities in Japanese territory.
These bases occupy nearly 20 percent of the Island’s area and are rejected by most of its residents.