Editorial: Another Step Forward on Okinawa

For nearly two decades, Japan and the United States have been mired in a dispute over the American military presence on Okinawa. Late last month, the two sides took an important step toward resolving the issue when the Okinawa governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, approved a landfill permit clearing the way for construction of a new base on a remote coast of the island. There are still hurdles, but the permit was a significant breakthrough.

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The United States has had troops on Okinawa since it occupied the island after World War II. Since 2006, the two governments have entered into two agreements to reduce the burden on Okinawa by relocating the United States Marine Corps Air Station from the city of Ginowan to a less-congested part of the island, and by moving about 8,000 of the 18,000 Marines now on the island to Guam, Hawaii and Australia. The move was triggered by the 1995 gang rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by American servicemen, but Pentagon officials now say the relocation is also needed to meet security requirements as the United States rebalances its focus toward Asia.

For years, the plans stalled because of political opposition, mostly on Okinawa, with some critics demanding that the base be taken off the island entirely. (Okinawa hosts almost three dozen American military facilities and more than half of the American service members stationed in Japan.) Despite the landfill permit, it is unclear whether local politics could still thwart the project. If the military is to remain for the long term, the United States and Japan must make a more compelling case to Okinawans for why the American presence is still needed. They also must be responsive to Okinawans' concerns about jet crashes, crime, environmental degradation and noise.

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, worked to make the deal happen by pressing Okinawan officials to approve the permit and offering financial support for the island. America's continued military presence in Japan is important to regional stability, a point driven home by North Korea's warmongering and the increasing face-offs between China and its Asian neighbors, including Japan, over disputed islands in the South China and East China Seas.

But the base deal has been overshadowed by concerns in America and elsewhere about Mr. Abe's aggressive nationalism, which has inflamed tensions with China and South Korea. After Mr. Abe visited Yasukuni, the controversial Shinto shrine honoring Japan's war dead, including World War II war criminals, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel postponed calling the Japanese defense minister about the base deal. When he spoke to the minister on Saturday, he underscored the importance of Japan improving relations with its neighbors, a spokesman said.

Mr. Abe's wrongheaded version of history has a poisonous effect on regional security, and the United States has warned him about this. Perhaps President Obama will have to make this point more firmly.

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