High-level talks at the Pentagon on Saturday involved Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and senior officials from both countries. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a working dinner Friday with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaku Machimura.

The talks could lead to a reduction of thousands of Marines on the strategically important southern island of Okinawa, Machimura said earlier this week.

Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Defense Minister Yoshinori Ono as saying the United States will cut the number of Marines stationed in Japan in half and relocate most of them to the Pacific island of Guam under the plan. U.S. officials refused to comment on the number.

There are 14,460 Marines in Japan, the largest contingent based overseas. Nearly all are on Okinawa, ideally located for dealing with potential problems in the Pacific, such as a possible invasion of Taiwan by China.

Okinawans have long complained of crime, crowding and noise associated with the Marine bases. Protests against the presence peaked in 1995 after the rape of an Okinawan school girl by three U.S servicemen.

Ono said at a news conference Friday that he understood the feelings of Okinawan leaders who were critical of the base realignment plans, but he asked for their understanding "from a broader point of view."

Ono said an agreement reached this week with the United States defines each nation's military roles more clearly and marks "the beginning of a new era."

Under a Japanese proposal, the US agreed to close the Futenma Marine Air Corps Station in the crowded southern part of Okinawa and move its functions to Camp Schwab in the north.

Both sides compromised on the major sticking point in the deal: construction of a heliport on reclaimed land off Okinawa, which Japanese environmentalists had argued would threaten a coral reef, according to Japanese media reports.

The US agreed to build only part of the heliport on reclaimed land but managed to negotiate a longer runway than the Japanese had sought, Kyodo said.

The United States and Japan followed up that agreement with an announcement Thursday that Japan will allow a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be based there for the first time.

Although American troops have been based in Japan since the end of World War II, the Japanese public has long been wary of a U.S. nuclear presence because of the fear of radiation leaks. The decision comes 60 years after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to force the Japanese empire to surrender.

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