TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama denied on Tuesday that an expected visit by a senior U.S. envoy had been canceled because of a row over the relocation of a Marine base.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had been scheduled to visit Japan this week on the final leg of an Asian tour, but the stop-off was canceled, with U.S. officials blaming a change in his travel schedule.

"The reason Mr. Campbell could not come is completely different," Hatoyama told reporters, when asked whether there was a connection with the months-long feud over the relocation of the Futenma Marine base on the island of Okinawa.

"I can't necessarily give you the reason, but it is completely different," he added. Other Japanese officials had blamed rising tensions in Thailand for the cancellation.

Voter perceptions that Hatoyama has mishandled a row over relocating the U.S. Marines' Futenma airbase on Okinawa island in southern Japan have eroded support for his six-month-old government, which has promised to steer a diplomatic course more independent of security ally Washington.

The U.S.-educated Hatoyama denied on Tuesday that he was anti-American.

"I am a person who loves America," he said he had told visiting Harvard University President Drew Faust this week.

An Asahi newspaper survey published on Tuesday showed support for Hatoyama's administration had fallen to 32 percent from initial highs of over 70 percent due to political funding scandals and doubts about Hatoyama's leadership abilities.

During the election campaign that swept his party to power last year, Hatoyama raised the hopes of many Okinawa residents that Futenma could be moved off the southern island, host to the bulk of America's 47,000 military personnel in Japan,

But Washington has said it wants to stick to a 2006 deal to shift the facility to a less crowded spot on northern Okinawa.

Hatoyama has promised to craft a new government proposal by the end of March and resolve the feud by the end of May, and a ruling Democratic Party elder said earlier this month the premier might have to quit if he fails to meet the May deadline.

Japanese media say the government is considering two proposals, one to build a runway inside the Marines' Camp Schwab base in northern Okinawa and shift other Futenma training functions elsewhere in Japan or outside the country.

The other proposal would move Futenma's functions to a site to be built on reclaimed land near the U.S. Navy's White Beach area in central Okinawa. Both plans would almost certainly face opposition from local residents.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Linda Sieg; Editing by Jerry Norton)