New Medical Center Opens at Ex-U.S. Military Site in Okinawa

Ginowan, Okinawa Pref., March 17 (Jiji Press)--A new medical center equipped with advanced instruments has opened at the site of the former West Futenma Housing Area in Okinawa Prefecture, which was returned to Japan from the U.S. military in 2015.

"This is one of the visible results of reducing Okinawa's base-hosting burden," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at the opening ceremony for the facility in the city of Ginowan in the southernmost Japan prefecture on Sunday. "The government will make best efforts to realize the reduction of the burden."

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Ryukyus and its affiliated hospital moved to the new medical center.

On the sidelines of the opening ceremony, Hayashi separately met with Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki and Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima.

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