Japan Press Weekly

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2013 November 13 - 19 [US FORCES]

Japan pays 13 million yen per US serviceman in Japan

Japan this year paid about 13 million yen per U.S. serviceman stationed in this country, according to Foreign Ministry documents.

For the U.S. forces’ operations in Japan in FY2013, the Japanese government has paid out 645.2 billion yen. The amount has remained at the same level since the late 1990s. It reached a peak of 700 billion yen in FY2010.

The U.S. side has kept its share of stationing costs in Japan from public view since 2011, but Japan has more than likely paid for more than half of the costs, Akahata says.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the maintenance and construction of U.S. bases, along with their consumption of fuel and operations are paid for by the Japanese government.

Although Japan initially covered only land rents for U.S. bases in Japan, it started in 1978 its so-called “sympathy budget” which has expanded to cover the salaries of Japanese workers on U.S. bases, construction of housing complexes for U.S. servicemen, utilities bills, and even the cost to build U.S. bases outside Japan.

Japan has no obligation to pay for most of these items under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.