US out of everywhere

Although the vote is nonbinding, Japan gets into the act:

A majority of Iwakuni residents voted "no" in a closely watched plebiscite Sunday, rejecting the central government's plan to move 57 U.S. warplanes and 1,600 additional marines to the area, according to partial vote counts and exit polls.

According to Iwakuni City Hall, 21,000 residents had voted "no" and 3,000 "yes" as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, with 48.31 percent of the votes counted.

And the US tries the peacepipe method:

The United States has agreed to return three facilities in Okinawa Prefecture to Japan, sources said Sunday.

The agreement, reached in Hawaii during bilateral talks on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, named three facilities: the Makiminato Service Area in Urasoe, Naha military port, and Camp Kuwae (Camp Lester) in the town of Chatan, the sources said...

The areas represent around five percent of the land occupied by the U.S. military in Okinawa. The move is being viewed as an attempt to cool off local opposition to U.S. troop movements on the island...

On Saturday, informed sources said the U.S. has basically agreed to return control of part of the airspace over Yokota Air Base in Tokyo to Japan as part of the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan.

The agreement is expected to alleviate the overcrowding caused by the 470 commercial flights that must take detours.