"Traffic-related accidents, soldiers drinking and driving and a lot of sexual crimes". The ugly incidents oozing out of the seedy and drunken US marine haunts, have stoked the fires lit by the bloody war between the US and Okinawa in 1949. The source of many incidents, and the flashpoint of this marathon debate, is the sprawling US Futenma base. It was once dubbed an "accident waiting to happen". Among many incidents, a USA helicopter crashed through the island's university. It's planned the Futenma base will be relocated to the coastline but there are fears the base and the runway will pose new threats to the environment, marine life, and Okinawans generally. After pressure from the mayor of Nago to rule out the relocation plan, Japan's Prime Minister was clear: "we will definitely carry this out by the end of May". Yet there is a faction of protestors in Japan who believe that removal of the bases would lead to invasion from China. Whatever decision Japan comes to this month will dictate a new Japan-US relationship: "We care deeply about the people of Okinawa", says an anxious US state department. "But there are larger issues at play."