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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Japan, the most generous host to U.S. forces

At the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 20, Japanese Communist Party representative Kasai Akira revealed that the cost that the government bears for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan is larger than the total amount of money paid by the other 26 U.S. allies to host U.S. forces in their countries.

According to the 2004 U.S. Department of Defense Report on Allied Contributions to the Common Defense, Japan in 2002 paid 4.41 billion dollars for the stationing of U.S. forces, which is 2.8 times more than Germany, 5.2 times more than South Korea, 12 times more than Italy, and 18.5 times more than the United Kingdom. The total amount paid by the other 26 U.S.-allied nations (3.98 billion dollars) is still less than the Japanese payment.

The report indicated that Japan paid 106 thousand dollars per U.S. military personnel, 3.8 times more than Italy and 4.9 times more than South Korea or Germany.

It also showed that Japan in the same year covered 74.5 percent of the U.S. military stationing costs, the highest percentage among 27 countries.

The tax money that the Japanese government used for U.S. forces in Japan consisted of 3.22 billion dollars of "direct payment (for facility construction, wages for staff, utilities, land rents, etc.)" and 1.18 billion dollars of "indirect payment (tax remissions, etc.)".

The prominence of the Japanese share of the cost for U.S. military stationing is due to the vast amount of the "direct payment," which is 6.6 times more than paid by South Korea.

Japan does not have the legal grounds to continue the "direct payment" so it calls it the "sympathy budget." It is used to construct housing units for U.S. troops and their families, recreational facilities, bomb shelters, and hangars. The government has also used the "sympathy budget" to build an additional runway at the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, to which carrier-based aircraft units are planned to be relocated from the U.S. Atsugi Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture.
- Akahata, February 21, 2006