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

(For full coverage of Obama's Asia visit, click ID:nOBAMAASIA])

* U.S. ties with new Japan govt frayed by feud over base

* PM Hatoyama seeks more equal partnership with U.S.

* Leaders may agree to start alliance review to tighten ties

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 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. [ID:nT80081]

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:nT80725]

"I want to make this a summit that shows the importance of Japan-U.S. relations in a global context," Hatoyama told reporters on 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 on 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.

But Hatoyama said before the election that the base should be moved off Okinawa, fanning hopes of the island's residents, reluctant hosts to more than half the U.S. forces in Japan.

Entangled with the feud are deeper questions about whether Obama and Hatoyama can start to reframe the alliance in the face of changing regional and global dynamics.

China is forecast to overtake Japan as the world's second-biggest economy as early as next year, raising concerns in Japan that Washington will cosy up to Beijing in a "Group of Two" (G2) and leave Tokyo out in the cold. [ID:n80582]

While Obama begins his Asian trip in Tokyo, he will spend just 24 hours in the Japanese capital compared to three days in China, where he will discuss revaluing the yuan, encouraging Chinese consumers to spend and opening Chinese markets further.

Some in Washington are equally worried by signs Japan is distancing itself from its closest ally by promoting an as yet ill-defined East Asian Community, despite Hatoyama's assurances the U.S.-Japan alliance is at the core of Tokyo's diplomacy.

The two leaders on Friday, though, were expected to stress the positive, agreeing to cooperate in fighting global warming and pledging to cooperate to promote nuclear disarmament, Japanese media said. (Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Jerry Norton)