Sun Nov 8, 11:45 AM

Protesters hold a sign at a mass anti-U.S. base rally in Ginowan on Japan's southwestern island of Okinawa, a subtropical island about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo, that hosts about half the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan November 8, 2009. A dispute over a replacement facility for Futenma air base on Okinawa, a key part of a realignment of U.S. troops in Japan, has strained the alliance between the U.S. and Japan, ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Tokyo next week. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon