Okinawans have voted overwhelmingly to reduce the U.S. military bases on their islands, a move that could help the government persuade other areas in Japan to share Okinawa's burden.
In a non-binding referendum Sunday, 89 percent of the voters said there were too many U.S. troops on their southern islands and that an agreement giving the foreign soldiers special legal status should be changed.The vote followed a year of increasing tensions between Okinawans and the nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed there. Anti-base demonstrations exploded in September after three U.S. servicemen raped a 12-year-old girl.
Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota, a popular and outspoken opponent of the U.S. troops, meets Tuesday with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in Tokyo to discuss the referendum results.
The vote will probably strengthen Hashimoto's hand in persuading the rest of Japan to more equitably share hosting U.S. troops, said John F. Neuffer, a senior researcher at the Mitsui Marine Research Institute in Tokyo.
Hashimoto's earlier calls for that have been met with protests.
Though the prime minister has made it clear that he wants the bulk of American troops to remain in Okinawa for now, he was expected to promise to reduce the number of U.S. forces there by moving some to other areas of Japan.
Japan's leading newspapers urged Monday that the government listen to Okinawa's concerns but not to let them override military security.
Ota called the referendum "a historic event" and vowed to continue his proposal to have all the bases removed from Okinawa by 2015.