Two groups of Okinawan government and business leaders will be on the mainland over the next two weeks, ending their visit in Hawaii on April 22.
One delegation is led by Gov. Masahide Ota, who left Saturday for a two-week visit to the United States to ask government officials and Congress for a cutback in the 16,000 Marines stationed there.
The Okinawan government wants all U.S. troops out of Okinawa by 2015.
Before arriving in Hawaii, Ota will visit Washington, D.C., Boston, Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn. It will be his sixth visit to the United States, but it will be his first direct appeal to U.S. government officials to reduce the Marines' presence on the island.
Of the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan, 27,000 of them are stationed in the prefecture.
Al Miyasato, who will serve as Ota's interpreter here, said Ota hopes to call on Adm. Joseph Prueher -- the Pacific Forces commander whose jurisdiction includes the military forces in Japan and Okinawa -- and Gov. Ben Cayetano.
A spokesman for Prueher said plans are still being formulated for Ota's visit.
Miyasato said "the main purpose of Gov. Ota's trip is to continue dialogue on the return of military bases and to lay the groundwork for expanding the economic base of Okinawa."
While in Hawaii, Ota also plans to meet privately with the islands' top government, business and educational leaders.
On April 23 Ota may join another group of nearly three dozen Okinawan leaders and dancers at an exhibition of lectures, pictures, traditional Ryukyuan dances and films at the Neal Blaisdell Center's Pikake Room beginning at 7 p.m.
The second Okinawan group started touring mainland cities yesterday promoting reduction and realignment of U.S. military bases so the island nation can use the land for industrial sites and tourism. About 75 percent of the land on Okinawa is now used by the U.S. military.
Hawaii is the last stop after two weeks of visits to Atlanta; College Park, Md.; and Chicago. The trip, sponsored by the Okinawan government, involves a series of seminars and videos designed to outline Okinawa's hope for U.S. troop withdrawal.
About 3,000 Okinawan landowners currently are refusing to renew leases for use by the U.S. military. Although the plots only add up to 90 acres, they include strategic locations such as runways. The leases are due to expire May 14.
Opposition of U.S. military presence heightened in 1995 when three U.S. servicemen raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.