Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 14 - 20 [US FORCES]

16,000 US Marines in Okinawa - largest number since 2001

The U.S. Marine Corps have 16,000 personnel in Okinawa at present, the highest number since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Akahata reported on March 18.

This contradicts what the U.S. and Japanese governments have said to Okinawans, claiming that the realignment of U.S. forces will lead to a smaller military burden on Okinawa.

The U.S. Forces Command in Japan told Akahata that the number is expected to increase due to the planned resumption of the unit deployment program (UDP) of the Marine Corps. The UDP is a system to deploy abroad operating forces of the Marine Corps from the U.S. mainland or Hawaii for six months in rotation. The system has been suspended since 2004 when the United States began to send its Marine Corps units to Iraq.

Under the impact of the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, re-deployment of U.S. forces to Okinawa is expected to increase further.

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Foreign Minister Genba Koichiro at a special committee meeting dealing with Okinawa and “northern problems” in the House of Representatives on March 16 said that it was learned during Japan-U.S. talks in 2011 that the capacity of U.S. Marines in Okinawa increased to 21,000.

The capacity of Marines deployed to Okinawa used to be set at 18,000. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, did not inform Okinawa Prefecture of the fact that the capacity of Marines increased by 3,000.

A 2006 roadmap for relocating the U.S. forces in Japan stated that 8,000 out of the 18,000 marines in Okinawa would be relocated to Guam.

At a Lower House Security Committee meeting on March 16, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken said, “If the latest U.S. explanation is taken at face value, 13,000 marines will remain in Okinawa even if 8,000 are reassigned.”