I find the issue of relocating of US Marines on Okinawa interesting because the plan to base US Marines on a new facility in a less populated area of Okinawa is very similar to what USFK went through trying to get the Camp Humphreys expansion plan passed that would consolidate US troops in area away from major cities.  And much like the Camp Humphreys expansion, the left in Japan is radically opposed to the move to relocate the Marines away from major population centers on the island.  However, if you ask the villagers where the new Marine base is planned to be built, the majority is actually in favor of it:

At first glance, this tiny fishing village can appear a hotbed of the sort of Okinawan anger that has damaged America’s ties with Japan. Near Henoko’s docks, demonstrators in tents recently marked the 2,850th day of their vigil against construction of a United States Marine airfield.

But wander up Henoko’s narrow streets, and the villagers will tell you a different story. They say the activists are outsiders. Most residents, they say, still support the village’s “painful decision” of more than a decade ago to accept the planned air base, with its noise and risk of crashes, in exchange for jobs and compensation payments.

“Of course, it would be better not to have the air base, but we are not dogmatic like them,” Masaaki Shiroma, a community association leader, said as he nodded toward the tent encampment. (……)

Those sentiments were echoed here in Henoko, where many of the 1,800 residents said that opinions were split about three-to-one in favor of construction. But residents warned that further delays could erode that support. Mr. Shiroma, the neighborhood leader in Toyohara, which includes part of Henoko, said that villagers were weary of being left dangling by Tokyo’s inability to build the base after nearly two decades.  [New York Times]

So the village where the new Marine base would be located is 3 to 1 in favor of the construction, now that is something you don’t hear about.  I think momentum is actually building to get something done on the Futenma issue considering how recently the Japanese government has increased subsidy payments to Okinawa at the tune of $4,500 a person, plus the Pentagon has announced how 8,000 of the 18,000 Marines currently on Okinawa will be shifted to locations across the Pacific such as Guam, Australia, the Philippines, and even South Korea.