‘Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has apologised for not keeping an election promise to move a US military base from Okinawa. Mr Hatoyama travelled to the island and met local governor Hirokazu Nakaima.Like many locals, the governor is opposed to the US presence and said the prime minister’s decision would be “difficult to accept”… Last month, nearly 100,000 people staged a protest on the southern island, demanding that the base be removed. Islanders have been angered by incidents involving US troops based there, including the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl…’
BBC 23 May 2010.
Update 1 June 2010: Japanese PM resigns over failure to move US base.
