By Isabel Reynolds and Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States is willing to listen to the new Japanese government's views on sensitive military issues, a Washington envoy said Friday after meeting Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.
Other U.S. officials had said existing agreements must stay in place, raising concerns about possible friction between the world's two largest economies ahead of the first summit between Japan's new prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama.
That is set to be held in New York next week.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell also told reporters in Tokyo he had urged the new government to ensure its investigation into a half-century-old secret nuclear pact between the two governments did not harm ties.
New Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party, which swept to power in an election last month, has vowed to forge a more equal partnership with the United States and called for the revision of a deal on the redeployment of U.S. Marines in Japan.
Japan plays host to about 47,000 U.S. military personnel and several military bases, with much of the deployment on the southern island of Okinawa. The military presence often sparks complaints of crime, noise, pollution and accidents.
"Clearly the new government's committed to some reviews in terms of certain aspects of the alliance," Campbell told reporters in Tokyo after meeting Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.
"We want to work with Japan on that," he added, saying it was important to be prepared to listen and talk to Japan.
Washington and Tokyo have agreed to ease the burden of U.S. bases on Okinawa by moving a U.S. Marine base from the center of a town to a less populated area in the north of the island.
Hatoyama has said the base should be moved off Okinawa completely, though he has not proposed an alternative location.
Foreign Minister Okada said this week he wanted to reach a conclusion on the deal, which also involves moving 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, within 100 days of the launch of the new government.
Okada plans as well to complete an investigation into the decades old secret agreement between Washington and Tokyo which allowed the United States to bring nuclear-armed ships into Japan.
Japanese officials have denied any such pact existed, but Campbell said the evidence was clear.
"Documents have been made available that paint a fairly clear picture of the history associated with agreements between the United States and Japan now almost 50 years ago," he said. "Those documents essentially speak for themselves."
He urged Japan to tread carefully in the investigation.
"We want very much for this matter be handled in such a way that it in no way undercuts the strength of the US-Japan relationship."
Both Campbell and Okada said they were optimistic about the future of Japan's most important alliance.
"I said that the Japan-U.S. alliance is sustainable for even another 30-50 years and that I wanted to work to further deepen the relationship," Okada told reporters after the talks.
(Editing by Jerry Norton)
