Okinawa Times wrote that Ginowan Mayor Matsukawa asked Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga during their meeting at the Kantei on Monday to host a meeting to discuss ways to reduce the base-hosting burden on the municipality, including the suspension of operations at the Futenma Air Station, at an early date. The paper wrote that Suga responded positively to the request. The paper noted that the two parties have not held such a meeting since July 2016. Commenting on the recent visits at Futenma of FA-18 combat fighters and F-35 stealth fighters from outside Okinawa since November, the mayor called on the cabinet spokesman to ask the U.S. side to stop sending the aircraft to reduce the base-hosting burden on Ginowan. The mayor also asked the GOJ to set aside in the fiscal 2019 budget funding for the planned relocation of the University of the Ryukyus School of Medicine to a site formerly used for the Nishi-Futenma housing area. Ryukyu Shimpo ran a similar report.