Japanese seek US base environment deal

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The heads of two key Japanese prefectures called for US troops to toughen environmental protection as a goodwill gesture, as a row over bases brews ahead of President Barack Obama's visit next week.

The governors of Okinawa and Kanagawa were visiting Washington for talks about the status of US bases, which has taken on new urgency since left-leaning Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama swept to power in August elections.

With few expecting a quick resolution on the main points of contention, the governors said that the United States could increase its "soft power" by reaching a new accord with Japan on protecting the environment on its bases.

The proposed deal would make bases adhere to environmental standards at least as strict as those in Japan and promise transparency, amid criticism that US and Japanese authorities now address pollution concerns behind closed doors.

Shigefumi Matsuzawa, the governor of Kanagawa prefecture which includes Yokohama, said that such an agreement would be in line with the Obama administration's thinking.

"Now the United States under the Obama administration has changed its posture to be more discussion-oriented and has also emphasized environmental efforts," he said at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

"Now is a time to develop new policies which were hindered so far, taking advantage of the administration changes in both countries," he said.

The United States stations some 47,000 troops in Japan under a security alliance reached after World War II. More than half are in Okinawa, where their presence has often rankled local residents.

The new Japanese government plans to take a fresh look at an agreement to shift some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam by 2014 that would include the building of a new air station on the island to replace a closed facility.

Senior US officials have made clear they are in no mood to revisit the 2006 pact, casting a shadow over Obama's first presidential visit to Japan next week.

Kurt Campbell, the top US diplomat for Asia, was in Japan on Thursday on a bid to ease frictions ahead of Obama's visit.

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