Tokyo and Washington plan talks on US military shift in Japan

Japan plans to hold ministerial-level security talks with the United States in February, focusing on a realignment of US forces on its soil, a senior Japanese official said Tuesday. "We think it would be great if we can hold the meeting in February," the foreign ministry official told reporters after a meeting of Japanese and US defence leaders here.
Japan's Defence Agency Director-General Yoshinori Ono and Richard Lawless, the US deputy under-secretary of defence, confirmed the talks would be held at an "early date," a defence agency official said.
The upcoming high-level talks, or the so-called a "two-plus-two" meeting, will involve Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, Ono and their US counterparts - Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who will replace Secretary of State Colin Powell next month.