DTN News: Japan TODAY November 8, 2009 ~ Locals Want US Military Base On Japan's Okinawa Island To Close

DTN News: Japan TODAY November 8, 2009 ~ Locals Want US Military Base On Japan's Okinawa Island To Close *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - November 8, 2009: U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma air base is seen behind a Japanese town in Ginowan, on the southwestern island of Okinawa, a subtropical island about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo that hosts about half the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan November 8, 2009. A mass anti-U.S. base rally will be held Sunday in Okinawa. A U.S. Marine bases in Okinawa, Japan, aims the machine gun near the AAV (Amphibious Assault Vehicles) after landing in the landing operation during a South Korea and U.S. joint military exercise at Pohang beach, 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) southeast of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has successfully weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal. People stage a rally against a US military base on Japan's Okinawa island, in Kadena on November 5, 2009. Some 2,500 people gathered the rally. Washington and Tokyo have been close security allies in the post-war era, and the US has about 47,000 troops based in Japan, more than half of them on Okinawa, where their presence has often rankled local residents. Japan's new government, which took power in mid-September, has promised to review a 2006 pact on rejigging the US troop presence, with the flashpoint being the Marine Corps Futenma Air Base located in an urban area of Okinawa.