December 17, 2015
The Japanese government on December 16 reached an agreement with the U.S. government, promising to provide the U.S. military in Japan with a total of 947 billion yen in the form of a “sympathy budget” over a five-year period starting in 2016, up by 13 billion yen from the previous period.
Tokyo initially insisted that the amount of the “sympathy budget” should be reduced on the grounds that Japan introduced the new security legislation enabling the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to go overseas to help the U.S. in its military activities and that Japan shoulders a heavy financial burden regarding the construction of a new U.S. base in Okinawa. Washington, however, demanded an increase in the budget to support the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan, and Tokyo gave in to the demand.
The framework of the “sympathy budget” was established in 1978 when the Japanese government started to pay a substantial part of costs for employees in U.S. military bases in Japan although the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty does not oblige Japan to do so. This scheme has expanded its coverage to include costs for constructing entertainment facilities and housing for military personnel, cost for utilities on bases, and other spending. The annual amount of the “sympathy budget” increased from 6.2 billion yen in 1978 to nearly 300 billion yen in the late 1990s.
The “sympathy budget” once tapered off after 2000, but the Japanese government instead began to pour a large amount of taxpayers’ money into the U.S. project to realign its military facilities in Japan, which includes the relocation of the U.S. Futenma base to the Henoko coastal area within Okinawa. The total amount of Tokyo’s funding to the U.S. military now exceeds 700 billion yen a year. No other U.S. ally offers such a huge amount of financial support to the U.S. military.
The Abe government introduced the war legislation in defiance of strong public opposition and is pushing forward with the construction of the Henoko base despite growing protests in Okinawa and the rest of the country. In addition, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has accepted U.S. request to increase the amount of the “sympathy budget”. This clearly underlines the fact that PM Abe gives priority to U.S. demands over Japanese people’s demands.
Tokyo initially insisted that the amount of the “sympathy budget” should be reduced on the grounds that Japan introduced the new security legislation enabling the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to go overseas to help the U.S. in its military activities and that Japan shoulders a heavy financial burden regarding the construction of a new U.S. base in Okinawa. Washington, however, demanded an increase in the budget to support the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan, and Tokyo gave in to the demand.
The framework of the “sympathy budget” was established in 1978 when the Japanese government started to pay a substantial part of costs for employees in U.S. military bases in Japan although the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty does not oblige Japan to do so. This scheme has expanded its coverage to include costs for constructing entertainment facilities and housing for military personnel, cost for utilities on bases, and other spending. The annual amount of the “sympathy budget” increased from 6.2 billion yen in 1978 to nearly 300 billion yen in the late 1990s.
The “sympathy budget” once tapered off after 2000, but the Japanese government instead began to pour a large amount of taxpayers’ money into the U.S. project to realign its military facilities in Japan, which includes the relocation of the U.S. Futenma base to the Henoko coastal area within Okinawa. The total amount of Tokyo’s funding to the U.S. military now exceeds 700 billion yen a year. No other U.S. ally offers such a huge amount of financial support to the U.S. military.
The Abe government introduced the war legislation in defiance of strong public opposition and is pushing forward with the construction of the Henoko base despite growing protests in Okinawa and the rest of the country. In addition, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has accepted U.S. request to increase the amount of the “sympathy budget”. This clearly underlines the fact that PM Abe gives priority to U.S. demands over Japanese people’s demands.
