May 10,2010
The U.S. Department of Defense in September 2009 published a report titled “Base Structure Report” (Fiscal Year 2009 BASELINE). It shows data from 716 U.S. military bases in 38 countries and regions outside the United States as at the end of September 2008 (excluding bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.)
Japan’s bases evaluated as 4 trillion yen, world’s highest
The point to note is the asset evaluation of the U.S. military bases in Japan. The amount exceeds that in Germany and ranks the highest in the world. According to the report, the worth of U.S. military bases in Germany are evaluated as 37.7 billion dollars in total, while those in Japan are 406 billion dollars, or over 4 trillion yen under the conversion rate of 100 yen to one dollar. In an evaluation of each base abroad, Japan hosts the top four most expensive bases. In a list of the top 30 bases, Japan hosts 10 bases, followed by Germany with six bases, South Korea with 5, and Britain with 2.
Why are the bases in Japan valued as the highest in the world? The biggest reason is that the Japanese government has poured enormous sums of money through the “sympathy budget” for the U.S. bases for as many as 30 years to strengthen the functions of these bases.
Privileged among privileged
Article 24 of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stipulates that “the United States will bear ...without cost to Japan all expenditures incident to the maintenance of the United States armed forces in Japan” except for the provision of bases by Japan for the U.S. forces. This means that the United States should bear all the costs of stationing its military in Japan.
The “sympathy budget” for the U.S. forces in Japan contradicts this agreement. Therefore, Shin Kanemaru, then director general of the Defense Agency, had to refer to the budget as based on sympathy when the government implemented it for the first time. It formally started in FY 1978 when the Japanese government paid for the cost of workers working on the bases. However, the move can be traced back to the 1972 reversion of administrative rights over Okinawa to Japan when Japan under a secret agreement shouldered the costs for repair and renewal of the U.S. bases there.
To the U.S. forces, the “sympathy budget” is the privilege exceeding all privileges, because it is administered under the secret arrangement and expended every year in contradiction even to the SOFA which already grants privileged status for the U.S. forces.
The U.S. Department of Defense, in its 2004 Statistical Compendium on Allied Contribution to the Common Defense, the latest in publication to date, shows that Japan with 3.23 billion dollars “direct support” including the “sympathy budget” and other fiscal expenditures, ranks at the top among 27 U.S. allies in the world. Japan pays 112 times more than what Germany pays.
Since FY 1979, when Japan started to pay for maintaining the facilities as part of the “sympathy budget,” up to FY 2010, Japan paid out about 2.2 trillion yen in total. Moreover, it is likely that Japan will pay a total of 3 trillion yen for the cost of relocating the U.S. forces in Japan, including for building a new base as an alternative to the U.S. Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.
The government faces a severe question if it continues to pay the aberrant sympathy budget in the future.
Asset evaluation of top 10 U.S. bases overseas (unit: billion dollars)
(1) Kadena Air Base (Japan) 5.31
(2) Misawa Air Base (Japan) 4.47
(3) Yokosuka Naval Base (Japan) 3.92
(4) Yokota Air Base (Japan) 3.76
(5)Ramstein Air Base (Germany) 3.00
(6) Diego Garcia Air Base (British territory) 2.66
(7) Guantanamo Naval Base (Cuba) 2.61
(8) Thule Air Base (Greenland) 2.58
(9) Osan Air Base (South Korea) 2.43
(10) Kwajalein Army Base (Marshall Islands) 2.42
-Akahata, May 10, 2010
Japan’s bases evaluated as 4 trillion yen, world’s highest
The point to note is the asset evaluation of the U.S. military bases in Japan. The amount exceeds that in Germany and ranks the highest in the world. According to the report, the worth of U.S. military bases in Germany are evaluated as 37.7 billion dollars in total, while those in Japan are 406 billion dollars, or over 4 trillion yen under the conversion rate of 100 yen to one dollar. In an evaluation of each base abroad, Japan hosts the top four most expensive bases. In a list of the top 30 bases, Japan hosts 10 bases, followed by Germany with six bases, South Korea with 5, and Britain with 2.
Why are the bases in Japan valued as the highest in the world? The biggest reason is that the Japanese government has poured enormous sums of money through the “sympathy budget” for the U.S. bases for as many as 30 years to strengthen the functions of these bases.
Privileged among privileged
Article 24 of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stipulates that “the United States will bear ...without cost to Japan all expenditures incident to the maintenance of the United States armed forces in Japan” except for the provision of bases by Japan for the U.S. forces. This means that the United States should bear all the costs of stationing its military in Japan.
The “sympathy budget” for the U.S. forces in Japan contradicts this agreement. Therefore, Shin Kanemaru, then director general of the Defense Agency, had to refer to the budget as based on sympathy when the government implemented it for the first time. It formally started in FY 1978 when the Japanese government paid for the cost of workers working on the bases. However, the move can be traced back to the 1972 reversion of administrative rights over Okinawa to Japan when Japan under a secret agreement shouldered the costs for repair and renewal of the U.S. bases there.
To the U.S. forces, the “sympathy budget” is the privilege exceeding all privileges, because it is administered under the secret arrangement and expended every year in contradiction even to the SOFA which already grants privileged status for the U.S. forces.
The U.S. Department of Defense, in its 2004 Statistical Compendium on Allied Contribution to the Common Defense, the latest in publication to date, shows that Japan with 3.23 billion dollars “direct support” including the “sympathy budget” and other fiscal expenditures, ranks at the top among 27 U.S. allies in the world. Japan pays 112 times more than what Germany pays.
Since FY 1979, when Japan started to pay for maintaining the facilities as part of the “sympathy budget,” up to FY 2010, Japan paid out about 2.2 trillion yen in total. Moreover, it is likely that Japan will pay a total of 3 trillion yen for the cost of relocating the U.S. forces in Japan, including for building a new base as an alternative to the U.S. Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.
The government faces a severe question if it continues to pay the aberrant sympathy budget in the future.
Asset evaluation of top 10 U.S. bases overseas (unit: billion dollars)
(1) Kadena Air Base (Japan) 5.31
(2) Misawa Air Base (Japan) 4.47
(3) Yokosuka Naval Base (Japan) 3.92
(4) Yokota Air Base (Japan) 3.76
(5)Ramstein Air Base (Germany) 3.00
(6) Diego Garcia Air Base (British territory) 2.66
(7) Guantanamo Naval Base (Cuba) 2.61
(8) Thule Air Base (Greenland) 2.58
(9) Osan Air Base (South Korea) 2.43
(10) Kwajalein Army Base (Marshall Islands) 2.42
-Akahata, May 10, 2010
