JAPAN-US-POLITICS-MILITARY-DIPLOMACY-OKINAWA

Some 35,000 protesters raise placards saying "Do not yield to authority" during a rally to protest against a controversial US airbase in Naha in Japan's southern island of Okinawa on May 17, 2015. Futenma US airbase has become emblematic of that ill-will since Washington announced plans to move it in 1996, hoping to ease tensions with the host community after the gang-rape of a schoolgirl by servicemen. But locals have blocked the move to relocate the base, insisting the facility should go off-island instead, harming relations between Tokyo and Okinawa -- a once independent kingdom that was annexed by Japan in the 19th century. JAPAN OUT -- AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS (Photo credit should read JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)