Japan and the United States on Thursday announced an agreement to keep a huge US military base on the island of Okinawa in defiance of local opposition. Tokyo and Washington said in a joint statement that the Futenma marine base would be moved, as agreed in 2006, from a city area to the coastal Henoko region of the southern island. The row was finally resolved after telephone talks between Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and President Barack Obama. Hatoyama, who took power in September, ending a half-century conservative reign, initially said he may scrap the 2006 relocation pact and instead move the base off the island, but then failed to find an alternative location. He caved in early this month when he said the base would stay on Okinawa, citing the need for a strong US military presence for regional security. In their statement, both sides said that the US-Japan Alliance remains indispensable not only to the defense of Japan, but also to the peace, security, and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.