WRAPUP 1-Obama faces strains in Japan, first stop in Asia

> * U.S. ties with new Japan govt frayed by feud over base * PM Hatoyama seeks more equal partnership with U.S. * Leaders to agree to review of security alliance By Caren Bohan and Linda Sieg TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo on Friday for a summit where the two allies will seek to put strained security ties on a firmer footing as they adjust to a rising China set to overtake Japan as the world's No. 2 economy. Tokyo is the first stop in a nine-day Asian tour that will take Obama to Singapore for an Asia-Pacific summit, to China for talks on climate change and huge trade imbalances and to South Korea where Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions will be in focus. Washington's relations with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's new government, which has pledged to steer a diplomatic course less dependent on its long-time ally and forge closer ties with Asia, have been frayed by a feud over a U.S. military base. Obama and Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party ousted its long-dominant rival in a historic August election, were expected to turn down the heat in the dispute over the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base on Japan's southern Okinawa island, a key part of a realignment of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan. [ID:nT80081] "I want to make this a summit that shows the importance of Japan-U.S. relations in a global context," Hatoyama told reporters Friday morning ahead of Obama's arrival. But assuaging anxiety and beginning to define a new direction for the five decade-old alliance will be a difficult task. Hatoyama has said he wants to begin a review of the alliance with an aim to broadening ties longer term, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos said Obama shared that desire. "President Obama believes now is the time to reaffirm and expand that alliance to ensure continued peace and security in the region and contribute to global security challenges," he wrote in an article published in the Japan Times newspaper. DEEPER QUESTIONS No breakthroughs were likely in the feud over Futenma during Obama's visit, although Hatoyama said Thursday he would tell the U.S. leader that Japan wants to resolve the issue soon. U.S. officials have made crystal clear they want Tokyo to implement a 2006 deal under which Futenma, located in a crowded part of Okinawa, would be closed and replaced with a facility in a remoter part of the island. Replacing Futenma is a prerequisite to shifting up to 8,000 Marines to the U.S. territory of Guam.  Continued...