Japan balks at US$2 billion bill to host U.S. troops

They are the most visible point of grievance in a sharpening debate about the cost to Japan of supporting the 47,000 American service members here -- about US$2 billion a year. That's nearly a third of the total, and about three times what Germany pays to host U.S. forces on its soil.

But facing economic woes and seeking a more equal relationship with the U.S., Japan's new reformist government is questioning whether it should spend so much on U.S. troops a topic that was taboo under the pro-Washington administrations that governed Japan for most of the post-World War II era. The scrutiny in Japan, Washington's deep-pocketed ally and most important strategic partner in Asia, comes at a bad time for the U.S., whose defense budget is already spread thin in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Japanese call their share a “kindness budget,” implying the U.S. is getting a free ride, and its opponents say it is rife with waste. The opposition also reflects a long-standing feeling, particularly on the left, that the U.S. is taking its security alliance with Japan too much for granted.

The alliance has come under intense pressure since Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, took office last September. He says the alliance remains a “keystone” of Japanese policy, but he wants to reevaluate it. The flash point of the debate is the southern island of Okinawa, where most of the nearly 100 U.S. facilities in Japan are located.

Futenma airfield, where several thousand Marines are stationed, was to have been moved from the town of Ginowan to Nago, in a less crowded part of the island. But that plan came into doubt last month after Nago elected a mayor who opposes having the base.

At the same time, the U.S. is shifting about 8,000 troops from Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam and expects Japan to pay an estimated US$6 billion of the moving costs. The frustrations run deep in cramped Ginowan. Local media regularly run images of the golf course at nearby Kadena Air Base and criticize the forces relentlessly whenever a service member is involved in a local crime.

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