According to the official reports, about 90,000 people rallied on Sunday in Okinawa to demand a U. S. Marine air base be moved off the Japanese island.

The protest comes as Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U. S. officials discuss a plan to relocate the Futenma Air Station from a busy city to a coastal area of Henoko on the southern part of the island.

The Financial Times reported that Hirokazu Na-kaima, Okinawa governor, told a crowd that reportedly included about 40 mayors, "I strongly demand [the Futenma base] is moved out of the prefecture or out of the country. I'm confident that the passion of the people gathered here today can move both the Japanese and U. S. governments to reach a satisfactory conclusion."

The demonstration was one of the largest ever in Okinawa, the newspaper further said.

Many demonstrators sported yellow, the color symbolizing the protest, and held banners. "Against the move within the prefecture," one read.

"We really don't need the base in our lives, so at the very least we want it out of the prefecture," a high school student at the rally told a local radio station.

Earlier Sunday, Japan denied a report in The Washington Post that the country would broadly accept a plan to relocate a U. S. military base on Okinawa.

Japan should reject the existing plan to move the base to coastal Henoko in part because it would hurt the environment, Hatoyama, after meeting with U. S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, told reporters.

Kyodo also reported that Hatoyama and U. S. President Barack Obama met in Washington during a working dinner for the Nuclear Security Summit, and the prime minister said he asked for the president's cooperation on deciding where to relocate the Futenma base. But Hatoyama said he did not name a prospective relocation site. (With Inputs from Agencies)