World IN BRIEF : JAPAN : Thousands Protest U.S. Bases, Lease Plan

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated throughout Japan against U.S. military bases in Okinawa as the lease on a small patch of base land on the southern island ran out. One protest in Tokyo attracted more than 26,000 people, police said. Opposition to the bases intensified after the rape of a 12-year-old girl in September involving three U.S. servicemen. Okinawans have also been angered by government plans to force landowners to renew leases for base land. As his lease expired, one landowner sued to evict the U.S. military and pledged to enter the base with a group of local children.