Japan Press Weekly

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2026 May 20 - 26 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japan spends 700 million yen to dispose of US military’s toxic PCB waste

The Ministry of Defense in the past used 700 million yen to dispose of the U.S. forces’ polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) waste. This has come to light in a written answer, which the Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae-led government approved in its Cabinet meeting on May 22, to the written question submitted by Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Tatsumi Kotaro.

PCB is a man-made, hazardous organic chemical, known as a causative agent for severe health issues, such as liver damage and heart disease. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a global environment treaty signed in 2001, calls for the abolition and proper disposal of PCB waste.

The U.S. Forces Japan in 2002 promised to transfer toxic PCB waste to the U.S. mainland. However, according to the written answer, the Defense Ministry between 2003 and 2024 shouldered the responsibility and cost for disposing of the U.S. military’s PCB waste and processed the accumulated waste in Japan.

Furthermore, the written reply made it public that as of the end of March 2025, the ministry stored about four tons of U.S. military waste contaminated with PCB.

The Japanese government, as a basis for assuming the responsibility for the U.S. military’s PCB disposal, cited Article 4 of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement which states that the U.S. military has no duty to clean up environmental contamination upon the return of its facilities to Japan. This provision enables the U.S. military to shift to the Japanese government the responsibility for getting rid of PCB waste by relocating them from operational facilities to those to be returned to Japan.

In addition, a bill to revise the Act Concerning Special Measures for Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Waste, which the government proposed in the current ordinary Diet session, suggests that the polluter-pays principle, which should be applied to the U.S. military, will no longer be enforced and that Japan will undertake the disposal of the U.S. military’s hazardous materials.