Petition on Okinawa base transfer work ready for White House reply

A petition to the White House to temporarily halt landfill work for the construction of a U.S. base off Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa hit the signature threshold on Tuesday to warrant a response from the White House.Robert Kajiwara, a 32-year-old Japanese-American from Hawaii, started the online petition on Dec. 8 through the White House's "We the People" website and garnered more than 100,000 signatures within 10 days, well within the 30 days necessary for a reply.Full-fledged landfill work off the Henoko coastal district of Nago started on Friday despite stiff local opposi…READ FULL ARTICLE