By Riyaz ul Khaliq </p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – The Japanese voters overwhelmingly rejected the plans to relocate the U.S. base in the country, media reports said on Monday.</p> <p>Work is already underway to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan to Henoko — a coastal area in the northeastern part of the main island. </p> <p>According to the daily Japan Times, more than 70 percent of the voters in Okinawa prefecture (municipalities) on Sunday voted against the plan to relocate U.S. base. </p> <p>However, the Shinzo Abe government in Japan will proceed with the relocation of the base within Okinawa prefecture, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported. </p> <p>“It [relocation of U.S. base] cannot be postponed any further," Kyodo quoted Abe as saying on Monday. </p> <p>“I sincerely accept the anti-U.S. base sentiment shown in the nonbinding plebiscite, vowing to continue all-out efforts to alleviate the base-hosting burden on residents of the southern island prefecture,” Abe said.</p> <p>Ginowan is considered a crowded residential area while Henoko district is a less densely populated coastal zone. </p> <p>There has been a long-standing demand of natives of the municipality that the Futenma base be moved outside of Okinawa. </p> <p>“We have been holding dialogue with people in Okinawa for a long time and intend to keep doing so to seek their understanding on the decades-old plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa,” Abe told the reporters.</p> <p>The U.S. base hosts bulk of American military facilities in Japan as a legacy of the U.S. military occupation of Okinawa prefecture from the end of World War II to 1972.</p> <p>Abe said that the Futenma airfield poses a danger due to its location in a residential area and that its move to a new site, originally agreed upon by Japan and the U.S. more than 20 years ago “should not be put off”. </p> <p>However, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki strongly urged Abe government to “accept the resolute intention” shown in the referendum held yesterday and “immediately halt the construction work”. </p> <p>The report said that Tamaki will visit the office of Abe and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Friday will “convey the outcome of the referendum and seek dialogue”.