 Ginowan residents request government efforts to remove Futenma base Okinawa's Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi and Ginowan residents on September 21 made representations to the government calling for an early removal of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station. Representing the September 12 Ginowan residents' rally held to protest a U.S. military helicopter crash at a university campus, Iha, the city assembly chair, Okinawa International University staff, and other residents met with Foreign Vice- minister Aisawa Ichiro. They submitted 66,432 signatures calling for the Futenma base to be removed and requested for government efforts to halt all flight activities on the base. Mayor Iha also demanded that Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro request the U.S. to reduce the burdens of the U.S. bases on Okinawa at the Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting scheduled for September 22. (end) |