The governor of the Japanese island of Okinawa has approved a controversial plan to relocate a US air base to a less populous location, but still wants the base moved off the island altogether.  The decision in Okinawa, long a reluctant host to the bulk of US military forces in Japan, is an achievement for the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who has promised a more robust military and tighter security ties with the United States amid escalating tension with China.  Sceptics, however, said it remained far from clear whether the relocation – stalled since the move was first agreed upon by Washington and Tokyo in 1996 – would actually take place given persistent opposition from residents, many of whom associate the US bases with crime, pollution and noise.  The approval came a day after Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, seen in parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. The visit infuriated China and South Korea, and prompted concern from the US about deteriorating ties between the Asian neighbours.  The Okinawa governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, told a news conference he had approved a central government request for a landfill project at the new site, on the Henoko coast near the town of Nago. His approval for that project, required by law and a first step to building the replacement facility, was the last procedural barrier to eventually replacing the US marines' Futenma air base in the crowded town of Ginowan.  "The government has recently met our requests in compiling a plan to reinvigorate Okinawa. We felt that the Abe government's regard for Okinawa is higher than any previous governments," Nakaima told a news conference.  He added, however, that he still believed the quickest way to relocate the Futenma air base would be to move it to an existing facility with runways outside Okinawa.  About 2,000 people gathered in front of the Okinawa government building to protest against the decision, with a few hundred staging a sit-in in the lobby of the office building, Jiji news agency said.  The US and Japan agreed in 1996 to close the Futenma base but plans for a replacement stalled in the face of opposition in Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the US forces in Japan. Okinawa was occupied by the US after Japan's defeat in the second world war until 1972.  The Futenma base has been a lightning rod for criticism because of its location in a densely populated area.  Activists living in tents have been staging a protest near the site of the proposed Henoko base for almost 10 years and have promised demonstrations if Nakaima approves construction.  In April, the US and Japan announced a plan to close Futenma as early as 2022.  Abe said the government would study whether that plan could be accelerated and would begin negotiating an agreement with the US that could allow for more local oversight of environmental issues at US bases.  That would address Nakaima's call to revise the bilateral Status of Forces agreement that has applied to US military in Japan since 1960 but has never been officially revised.  Abe's government has earmarked 348bn yen (£2bn) for Okinawa's economic development in the draft budget for the year from April, a 15.3% increase from this year.
Residents of Japanese island protest against plans to move US air base from Futenma to less populous Henoko