A broad plan to reorganise US forces in Japan was agreed in 2006 with Japan's long-dominant conservative party after a 1996 deal failed to gain support of local residents.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Japan's new prime minister on Wednesday for talks where he was expected to press for the implementation of a deal on US troop realignment, despite calls from Tokyo for more time to resolve an issue that could fray bilateral security ties.
Japan's Democratic Party-led government, which took office last month, has pledged to steer a diplomatic course less dependent on close security ally Washington, prompting concern that relations could suffer at a time when China's military power is growing and North Korea remains as unpredictable as ever.
"Needless to say, the new administration will place great importance on and cherish our alliance," Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told Gates at the start of their meeting.
"Under the circumstances in which uncertainties remain in this Northeast Asia region, I think it is the imperative to maintain and develop our alliance even further," he added. Gates' visit is intended to lay the groundwork for US President Barack Obama's Nov. 12-13 trip to Tokyo.
A broad plan to reorganise US forces in Japan was agreed in 2006 with Japan's long-dominant conservative party after a 1996 deal failed to gain support of local residents, many of whom associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents.
The realignment pact is meant to reduce the US military "footprint" on the southern island of Okinawa while improving the ability of the two forces to cooperate.
Central to the deal is a plan to shift a US Marine air base on Okinawa to a less crowded part of the southern island.
Hatoyama has said he wants the base moved off the island, but US officials have ruled that out, saying it would undermine broader security arrangements that took more than a decade to work out.
Gates told reporters on his plane before arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday that he saw no alternatives to the original plan, but Japan wants more time to work out its stance.
"Our new government has its own thoughts. We would like to spend time and reach a good result," Kyodo news agency quoted Hatoyama as telling reporters ahead of his meeting with Gates.
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