US Marines 'will be moved from Japan's Okinawa'

The United States and Japan have reached a deal to move thousands of US Marines from the island of Okinawa.

Some 9,000 marines will be sent to ''locations outside of Japan'', a joint statement by Washington and Tokyo said. Some 10,000 troops will remain.

The revised agreement comes ahead of a visit to Washington by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

The two sides have still not reached agreement on closing the controversial Futenma airbase on Okinawa.

The troops leaving Okinawa will be moved to Guam, Hawaii and other locations in Asia Pacific.

Japan has been unable to fulfil the conditions of an agreement over Okinawa signed in 2006 in which the Futenma air base was to be relocated before US troops were redeployed. At the beginning of talks this year, both countries said they had agreed to de-link the two issues.

The Futenma base, near Naha city, has soured ties between the two allies.

Locals say having a military facility so near the city is dangerous and noisy, and want it removed from the island altogether.

Occasional well-publicised instances of bad behaviour and criminality by US personnel have fuelled the concerns.

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama promised to shift the base off the island, but he resigned in 2010 when he failed to get agreement on another location.

The US has a total military deployment in Japan of about 50,000 personnel.

Under the 2006 agreement, the US said it would move 8,000 marines to Guam once Futenma was shut down, leaving 10,000 on Okinawa.

That deal stalled amid local protests at the possible sites for relocation of the base.