March 22, 2016
The number of housing units for U.S. military personnel in Japan that the Japanese government built by using the taxpayers’ money under the “sympathy budget” between fiscal year 1979 and 2015 reached 11,383, according to Japan Defense Ministry documents.
Even five years after the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster, as many as 140,000 disaster victims are still forced to live in flimsy temporary housing units. On the other hand, the government is providing generous treatment to the U.S. military.
According to the materials that the Defense Ministry submitted to Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken, the amount of the construction cost of military family housing for senior officers at the U.S. Iwakuni base, for example, stands at around 96.5 million yen per unit, not including land purchase costs. The floor area of such luxurious residences is about 250 square meters and even that of houses for rank-and-file personnel is about 150 square meters. In sharp contrast, the victims of the 2011 disaster live in temporary housing units with an average floor space of only 30 square meters.
The Japanese government plans to construct another 171 housing units for the U.S. military in Kanagawa Prefecture by using the “sympathy budget”. Apart from using this budget, in accordance with the agreement for the relocation of a carrier-borne aircraft unit from the U.S. Navy Atsugi base (Kanagawa Prefecture) to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni base (Yamaguchi Prefecture), 262 housing units for U.S. military families are planned to be constructed in Iwakuni City at Tokyo’s expense.
Since FY 1978, the Japanese government has spent nearly seven trillion yen in “sympathy budget”. Combined with the budget for the U.S. military realignment project, the amount of spending to help station the U.S. forces in Japan exceeded eight trillion yen. The Japanese government actually has no legal obligation to make these payments under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Even among other U.S. allies, for example, NATO nations do not pay for the construction of accommodation units for families of U.S. military personnel stationed in their territories.
The amount of the “sympathy budget” was around 190 billion yen in FY 2015. The JCP has proposed that the government end this program and instead use the money for the benefit of the general public, such as measures to halve university tuitions, which can be implemented at an annual cost of 110 billion yen.
Even five years after the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster, as many as 140,000 disaster victims are still forced to live in flimsy temporary housing units. On the other hand, the government is providing generous treatment to the U.S. military.
According to the materials that the Defense Ministry submitted to Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken, the amount of the construction cost of military family housing for senior officers at the U.S. Iwakuni base, for example, stands at around 96.5 million yen per unit, not including land purchase costs. The floor area of such luxurious residences is about 250 square meters and even that of houses for rank-and-file personnel is about 150 square meters. In sharp contrast, the victims of the 2011 disaster live in temporary housing units with an average floor space of only 30 square meters.
The Japanese government plans to construct another 171 housing units for the U.S. military in Kanagawa Prefecture by using the “sympathy budget”. Apart from using this budget, in accordance with the agreement for the relocation of a carrier-borne aircraft unit from the U.S. Navy Atsugi base (Kanagawa Prefecture) to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni base (Yamaguchi Prefecture), 262 housing units for U.S. military families are planned to be constructed in Iwakuni City at Tokyo’s expense.
Since FY 1978, the Japanese government has spent nearly seven trillion yen in “sympathy budget”. Combined with the budget for the U.S. military realignment project, the amount of spending to help station the U.S. forces in Japan exceeded eight trillion yen. The Japanese government actually has no legal obligation to make these payments under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Even among other U.S. allies, for example, NATO nations do not pay for the construction of accommodation units for families of U.S. military personnel stationed in their territories.
The amount of the “sympathy budget” was around 190 billion yen in FY 2015. The JCP has proposed that the government end this program and instead use the money for the benefit of the general public, such as measures to halve university tuitions, which can be implemented at an annual cost of 110 billion yen.
