budget

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Lower House approves ﾔsympathy budgetﾕ extension; DPJ shows ﾔunderstandingﾕ

The House of Representatives plenary session on March 14 approved the Japan-U.S. special agreement to extend for two more years the so-called ﾒsympathy budgetﾓ for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan after the expiration date of March 31. Not only the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, but the opposition Democratic Party voted in favor.

The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party voted against the special agreement.

In a discussion before the vote, Democratic Party of Japan member of the Lower House Tsumura Keisuke was applauded by LDP members when he expressed his recognition that the ﾔsympathy budgetﾕ has historic significance.

Stating, ﾒThe Japan-U.S. alliance is now an important common infrastructure not only for Japan and the United States but for countries in Asia and the rest of the world,ﾓ Tsumura appreciated the increasing ﾒmilitary personnel cooperation between Japan and the United States,ﾓ including the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, in addition to the conventional Japanese provision of military bases and funding for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan.

The ﾒsympathy budgetﾓ started in FY 1978 with Japan paying part of the salaries for Japanese workers at U.S. bases in Japan, utility costs, and costs for relocating training programs. However, even the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement does not have such a provision for Japanﾕs extraordinary payment.
- Akahata, March 15, 2006