Japan pays 150,000 dollars for every U.S. soldier stationed in Japan - FY 2003

The Japanese government in fiscal year 2003 (Apr. 2003-Mar. 2004) will expend 638.7 billion yen (5.8 billion dollars) for supporting the U.S. military presence in Japan, reported Akahata of November 10 based on data compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The total amount is more than 665-billion yen (about 6-billion dollars) if an extra expenditure of 2.65 billion yen (24 million dollars) for U.S. forces in Okinawa is added under the terms of the Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO)'s agreement that requires Japan to pay for U.S. military construction projects.

Japan's monetary contribution includes 246 billion yen (about 2.24 billion dollars) from the so-called "sympathy budget", which is in violation of the USFJ even under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The SOFA provides that the United States will bear, for the duration of this agreement, without cost to Japan all expenditures related to the maintenance of the U.S. forces in Japan, except those to be borne by the provisions of base sites.

The United States maintains 39,691 troops in Japan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense's 2003 report on "Allied Contributions to the Common Defense". This means Japan is forced to pay 16.1 million yen (150,000 dollars) a year for every U.S. soldier stationed in Japan.

The DoD report also states that Japan's "host-nation support" accounts for 75 percent of the costs for U.S. forces stationed in Japan. The report reveals that Japan pays more than the top 25 U.S. allies combined. Japan's payment is 5.4 times what the second largest contributor, Germany, pays. This explains why the report highly commends Japan for providing the most generous host-nation support. (end)