[Shadow Kira01]

Okada hoping U.S. base issue resolved soon, options diminishing

''I am alarmed that we may lose the trust of the United States if we try to scrap, in a one-sided way, the Japan-U.S. agreement when the United States is telling Japan to comply with it,'' Okada told a press conference in the city of Naha.

''I feel a very strong sense of crisis about the current situation of the Japan-U.S. alliance and I strongly hope that I will be able to somehow break the stalemate,'' he added.

But Okada said that his remarks at the press conference were not intended to suggest a particular direction, while noting that the government needs to reach ''a political decision that may not be the best, but a better option.''

The Futemma issue is weighing heavily on the Democratic Party of Japan-led government, which is caught between U.S. pressure and expectations among people in Okinawa that the DPJ will seek to relocate the facility outside of the prefecture in line with its stance prior to the Aug. 30 House of Representatives election.

Also complicating the issue is the DPJ's relations with its two junior coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- which do not necessarily take the same position, especially on foreign policy issues.