
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1990                   TAG: 9006200144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. TO RETURN PART OF OCCUPIED OKINAWA

The United States and Japan announced Tuesday the American military had agreed to return about 4 percent of the land from its base installations on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, in a long-awaited move that appears likely to leave the strongly anti-military residents of Okinawa unsatisfied.

After two years of negotiations, prompted by an emotional appeal from the governor of Okinawa in April 1988, the United States agreed to return a little more than 2,000 acres, about 4 percent of the land it has occupied since taking the islands after a bloody battle in the closing months of World War II.

The 2,000 acres was far less land than the Okinawans had sought.

The parcels to be returned are spread over 23 sites, and range from a smattering of antenna locations to a golf course and an ocean-side site the Okinawa government has said it wants to develop as a resort to invigorate the local economy.

- The New York Times

by CNB