April 28, 2025

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

April 28 is the anniversary day for Japan to have become an “independent country” after the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into force in 1952. However, U.S. military installations have remained as they were during the occupation period due to the former Japan-U.S. Security Treaty which was signed at the same time. Even today, 130 U.S. military facilities still exist in Japan. Under such a situation, can Japan be called an independent nation?

Japan spends more than 800 billion yen every year, including the so-called “sympathy budget,” for the U.S. military forces stationed in Japan. Japan provides the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) with everything from combat-related facilities to luxurious recreational facilities, from bartenders at on-base bars to tourist guides for U.S. soldiers and their families.

According to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), Japan’s domestic laws do not apply to the USFJ, and Japan renounces its right of jurisdiction over crimes and accidents involving U.S. servicemen. They are protected by extraterritorial privileges and can freely use base grounds in Japan. In regard to the 2004 incident in which a U.S. military helicopter crashed on the campus of Okinawa International University, even Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru during the 2024 LDP presidential election campaign said, “The Okinawan police could not enter the crash site. It was the U.S. military that recovered all the wreckage of the aircraft. Are we still a sovereign nation?”

In protest against the arrogant behavior of the USFJ, residents living near U.S. military facilities have been fighting in court in various regions, seeking an injunction against U.S. aircraft flights and compensation for noise-pollution damages. So far, a total of more than 70 billion yen in compensation has been paid. Under the SOFA, the United States is supposed to bear a larger share of the compensation than Japan, but in reality, Japan’s government shoulders the entire burden because the U.S. side refuses to do so.

There is no country other than Japan that gives such preferential treatment to the U.S. military. The LDP-led government of Japan, however, sees the Japan-U.S. military alliance as absolute and seems to have no pride in being a subordinated nation. U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to get Japan to shoulder even more of the cost for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan. In the first place, U.S. bases located in Japan do not exist for the defense of Japan but for the U.S. military strategy which requires the forward deployment of its forces. No unit in the USFJ is specifically tasked with defending Japan.

Japan should follow the path of becoming a truly independent nation.