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Socialists Withdraw From Japan's Ruling Coalition

   VOA News 30 May 2010
   Gender  Equality  Minister  Mizuho  Fukushima  Mizuho Fukushima of the
   Social  Democratic  Party  speaks  during  a press conference in Tokyo
   (File Photo)

Photo: AP

   Gender  Equality  Minister  Mizuho  Fukushima  Mizuho Fukushima of the
   Social  Democratic  Party  speaks  during  a press conference in Tokyo
   (File Photo)

   Japan's  tiny  Social  Democratic  Party  decided  Sunday to leave the
   ruling  coalition  in  a dispute about the relocation of a U.S. Marine
   base on the southern island of Okinawa.

   The move came after SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima was ousted as minister
   of  consumer  affairs  and gender equality after she refused to accept
   the  government's  latest policy on the relocation of Marine Corps Air
   Station Futenma.

   She  said  in  televised  remarks  Saturday  that  her dismissal is an
   indication that the Social Democratic Party has been discarded.

   Prime  Minister  Yukio  Hatoyama said he would like the small party to
   stay  in  his  coalition, but the party decided in a meeting Sunday to
   withdraw.

   Tokyo  announced  Friday  it  would  adhere  to  a 2006 agreement with
   Washington  to  move  the U.S. air base at Futenma to a less-populated
   area on Okinawa.

   The  decision  is a reversal of Mr. Hatoyama's earlier promise to move
   the base off the island altogether.

   The U.S. and Japan announced in a joint statement Friday that the base
   would  be  moved, but stay on Okinawa. Under the plan, 8,000 personnel
   and  their  families will move from Okinawa to the U.S.-held territory
   of  Guam,  and  some  training  activities will be relocated away from
   Okinawa.

   Local  residents  have  long  protested  the presence of the base in a
   densely  populated  area,  citing noise, pollution and crime involving
   American service personnel.

   Okinawans  staged  protests  Friday against the latest decision. Prime
   Minister Hatoyama has apologized for failing to fulfill his promise.

   The  air  base  decision  has eroded Mr. Hatoyama's political standing
   ahead  of  upper  house  elections  next month. He led his center-left
   Democratic  Party  of  Japan  to  victory  last year promising a "more
   equal"  relationship  with the United States, and to move the air base
   off Okinawa, where it has been since the end of WWII.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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