Okinawa

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ended weeks of internal discontent with his leadership by announcing Wednesday that he would resign, a swift fall from grace for a politician who just eight months ago led his endemic opposition party to a historic victory. His collapse in approval ratings was prompted largely by his failure to deliver on a campaign promise to move a major U.S. military base off Okinawa's main island. The move was a centerpiece of Hatoyama's campaign for office last year, but its implementation would have required American consent to alter a painstakingly negotiated 2006 deal with the previous Japanese government before the base could be moved to another part of Okinawa.

— A small party decided to leave Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's ruling coalition over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base off Okinawa island, and he faced angry calls to resign Sunday. The departure of the Social Democratic Party from the three-party coalition is unlikely to bring down the government led by Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan. But his poor handling could significantly hurt the Democrats' performance in upper-house elections expected in mid-July.

The United States is on the verge of permanently damaging its alliance with Japan in a dispute over a military base in Okinawa. This island prefecture hosts three-quarters of all U.S. military facilities in Japan. Washington wants to build one more base there, in an ecologically sensitive area. The Okinawans vehemently oppose it, and tens of thousands gathered last month to protest the base. Tokyo is caught in the middle, and it looks as if Japan's prime minister has just caved in to the U.S. demands.

Okinawa. Site of the largest U.S. amphibious assault in the Pacific and the final major battle of World War II. Last territory to be handed back to Japanese control -- in 1972. And now, the first point of friction between the Obama administration and the 4-month-old government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. As host to nearly three-quarters of the U.S. troops stationed in Japan, Okinawa residents have long felt that they shoulder more than their fair share. So it's not surprising that the future of a U.S. Marine base has become a contentious issue.

Alejandro R. Ruiz Sr., an Army infantryman during World War II who received the Medal of Honor for single-handedly storming a Japanese machine gun bunker -- twice -- during the Battle of Okinawa, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 23 at a hospital in Napa, Calif. He was 85. On April 28, 1945, in the last months of the war, the private first class deployed to Okinawa on a mission with his platoon, seeking remnants of a Japanese battalion hiding in fortified emplacements on steep ridges near the village of Gasukuma.

Japan's Foreign Ministry says the U.S. Navy has warned it of a possible radioactive leak from a nuclear sub during recent port calls. The ministry said a small amount of radioactivity might have leaked from the Houston, which made calls in the southern Japanese naval ports of Sasebo and Okinawa in March and April. The leak was detected in June during its routine maintenance in Hawaii, the ministry said. It said the leak was negligible and was believed to have posed no threat to humans or the environment.

Several thousand Okinawa residents angry over recent reports of crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops held a loud but peaceful protest, with many demanding the troops be withdrawn from the island. The protest was followed by a march to the gate of a nearby U.S. Marine base. The demonstration was sparked by recent reports of U.S. troop-related crimes, including the arrest of a Marine for allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old Okinawan girl in February. The Marine was released from Japanese custody and no charges were filed.

The Japanese prime minister has described the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by an American Marine as "unforgivable." The foreign minister declared that Japan has "had enough" of such incidents. And the government's most senior Cabinet official promised that Japan would raise the issue of misconduct with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits next week.

The U.S. military imposed tight restrictions on all service members in Okinawa today, limiting troops to bases, workplaces and off-base housing amid a furor over the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of rape. The restrictions also apply to all 18,000 Marines based anywhere in Japan, military families and military-linked civilians, officials said. Last week, Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa. Hadnott said he forced the girl down and kissed her but did not rape her, police said.