Photo/Illutration Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki enters the prime minister’s office building in Tokyo to meet Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Oct. 7. (Kotaro Ebara)

NAHA--Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki has set a numeral target for reducing the "burden rate" of U.S. military facilities in his prefecture from about 70 percent to 50 percent or less.

With Okinawa preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japan next year, Tamaki stated the goal at a prefectural assembly meeting on Feb. 16. 

“I understand the necessity of the Japan-U.S. security agreement, but Okinawa shoulders such a disproportionate burden,” the governor said in his policy speech to the assembly.

Tamaki plans to ask the Japanese and U.S. governments to downsize the U.S. military bases in the prefecture to reach the numerical goal.

The governor's statement marks the first time that Okinawa Prefecture has set a numerical target for downsizing the U.S. bases. 

According to Tamaki, although Okinawa Prefecture accounts for about 0.6 percent of the nation's land area, it hosts 70.3 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan.

The governor said that problems associated with the U.S. military's presence such as noise, pollution, crimes and accidents keep endlessly recurring. 

He said current plans to return U.S. military bases to Japan, agreed to by both countries, fail to come close to achieving his goal.

“Even if all those plans are accomplished, the burden rate will remain about 69 percent, a far from appropriate percentage,” Tamaki said. 

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