Tensions in Okinawa over the American military presence on that island have festered for decades. On Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan showed political leadership by agreeing with the United States on a timetable for reducing the size of the American force and returning some land used as a military base.
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The agreement will fortify the Japanese-American alliance at a critical moment, amid growing concerns about North Korea and China. But whether it will satisfy Okinawans, reluctant hosts for more than half of the 50,000 American troops in Japan, is anything but certain. Their legitimate concerns about living among American bases — jet crashes, crime, environmental degradation and noise — have often been ignored, and as result, anger and resentment have understandably hardened.
The United States has had troops on Okinawa since it occupied the island after World War II. Since 2006, the two governments have made a couple of agreements to reduce the burden on Okinawa by relocating the United States Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma from the middle of a city to a less congested part of the island, and by moving 9,000 Marines and their dependents to Guam, Hawaii and Australia. But the plans stalled in the face of political opposition in Japan, with critics demanding that the base and its aircraft be taken off the island entirely.
Friday's agreement sets a date for returning the Futenma base to Japan as early as 2022, if the replacement base is finished, and establishes a timetable for handing over five other American facilities, which along with Futenma occupy 2,500 acres on Okinawa's crowded southern half.
America's continued military presence in Japan is important to regional stability, a point that has been driven home in recent months by North Korea's alarming warmongering and China's aggressive claims on disputed islands in the East China Sea. But for such a force to be sustainable, the United States and Japan must be responsive to Okinawan concerns. Mr. Abe's government has tried to address the opposition with offers of generous financial aid and other efforts to court Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, a member of Mr. Abe's conservative governing party. Now the pressure is on Mr. Abe to deliver.
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