AGG Japan, U.S. activists demand halt in building U.S. base off Okinawa

Japanese and American activists staged a rally Monday in front of the White House calling for a halt to landfill work for building a U.S. base off Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.

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About 30 activists gathered after a petition urging U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the work has accumulated more than 195,000 signatures in 30 days -- well over the 100,000 threshold which requires the White House to make a response.

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"We're definitely expecting some kind of response. Of course, they don't guarantee what type of response we'll get," Kajiwara said. "Even if we don't get a response that we're looking for, we're not going to give up and we're going to keep on trying."

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The White House is supposed to respond within 60 days to any petition that gathers 100,000 signatures within 30 days of its starting date.

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About 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan are located in Okinawa Prefecture, which accounts for only 0.6 percent of the total land area of the country.

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