By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI And YUKA HAYASHI
TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, badly bruised in Sunday's national elections, soon must turn to the issue of a U.S. military base on Okinawa—a politically charged matter that forced the resignation of his predecessor just over a month ago.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan at a news conference at the election headquarters of his Democratic Party of Japan early Monday morning.
The base wasn't a prominent factor in the campaign, but Sunday's results could make it harder for the weakened Mr. Kan to keep the promises the Japanese government made to the Obama administration. The prime minister told the U.S. he would move forward with the plan, aimed at keeping a large Marine presence on the southern island.
The first test comes at the end of August: The previous prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, had promised Washington an agreement with the U.S. on details of the controversial base location plan, including configuration and construction methods, by then. Mr. Kan has pledged to follow Mr. Hatoyama's commitments on Okinawa. In the months following that deadline, local elections in Okinawa could further lock local politicians into opposing Tokyo's attempts to move the American base to a new community.
The Pentagon declined immediate comment on the vote.
Photos: Voters Speak Up
Photos: Election Day
The tensions revolve around a 2006 agreement between the two countries to shuffle U.S. troops in Okinawa to make them more politically acceptable to the local population. The agreement calls for the U.S. to move 8,000 Marines to Guam by 2014 and to shift part of an existing Okinawa helicopter facility to a rural part of the island from a densely populated area. The aim is to diminish local hostility to the Marine presence, which has been stoked by a rape case and a helicopter crash.
While the deal reduces the number of Marines on Okinawa, it leaves thousands there, and it doesn't go far enough for many Okinawans, who want the base moved off the island entirely. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan had endorsed that view last year and promised base opponents it would support their cause. But Mr. Hatoyama changed his position under pressure from the U.S.
The issue didn't get much attention in a campaign dominated by domestic issues, such as Mr. Kan's pledge to raise the national sales tax to help cut the national debt. The parties that Mr. Kan is likely to invite into a new ruling coalition have either endorsed the U.S. plan or haven't vocally opposed it.
In that sense, Mr. Kan may be freer than Mr. Hatoyama to move forward in implementing the U.S. agreement. Mr. Hatoyama's coalition included the left-leaning Social Democratic Party of Japan, which strongly opposes the U.S. military presence in Okinawa—and which left the coalition when Mr. Hatoyama reversed course.
But even with support from coalition partners, the issue will require a strong leader to push implantation over powerful local opposition. And Mr. Kan's political capital appears to have been sapped by Sunday's vote, in which his party lost seats.
Looking to smooth ties with Washington, Mr. Kan pledged at the outset of his administration to abide by the latest bilateral agreement and called the decades-old security alliance the linchpin of his foreign policy. The challenge he now faces is demonstrating a commitment to implementing the base relocation and repairing relations with the U.S., while working to shift public sentiment on the issue in Okinawa, where the pact is so deeply unpopular that the DPJ chose not to run its own candidate on the southern island.
Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the sense of betrayal and anger by Okinawans toward the central government is so strong that changing the sentiment will be very difficult.
"The situation is probably the worst it has ever been in terms of political sensitivity," said Ms. Smith, who has followed the Okinawa issue closely.
In a statement Friday asking Japan and the U.S. to review the base-relocation agreement, the Okinawa prefectural assembly said the pact went "over the heads" of the locals and ignored the protests of the people who want the base moved off the island.
On July 2, the mayor of Ginowan City, the current home to the Marine base, said his city was considering suing the Japanese government for neglecting to remove the danger posed on its citizens from the air base. The city also plans to seek financial compensation for the damage it says has been suffered by its residents.
The mayor, Yoichi Iha, has become a national figure with his eloquent opposition to the base. He is among the potential candidates for a November race for governor of Okinawa—an important role, because the governor must approve the start of construction for a new facility. Nago, the coastal city where the proposed base would go, is holding an election on Sept. 27 for its assembly council. If both elections are dominated by vocal opponents of the base relocation, it could undermine the agreement.
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Mr. Kan has sought to ease tensions. Last month, he apologized to the people of the island during a ceremony at a peace memorial there: "From here on, I promise to work harder in order to ease Okinawa's burden and eliminate the danger of hosting the base."
He tempered his remarks by saying that the U.S. military presence has helped to foster peace and stability in the region. The prime minister has continued to emphasize the base's importance for the U.S.-Japan alliance.
"Kan has been very careful not to say anything in public that indicates any daylight between his position and the U.S. position," said Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. Mr. Sneider also expects the U.S. to make a more concerted effort to address the local opposition with more diplomatic efforts.
Both countries seem eager to improve communication channels. President Barack Obama invited Mr. Kan to the White House for a visit if he chooses to address the United Nations General Assembly in September, and Mr. Obama is scheduled to visit Japan in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Yokohama.
Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com and Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com
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