Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The total assessed value of US military bases in Japan (excluding land value) is approximately 27.6 trillion yen ($192 billion), more than three times that of Germany and South Korea, according to recently released US Department of Defense (DoD) data.

The DoD annual Base Structure Reports show that six of the 10 most expensive bases worldwide are in Japan, and that the US military had 549 bases overseas, as of the end of September 2024, with 98 of them in Japan.

The Japanese government has been building and renovating facilities for the US Forces Japan with the so-called “sympathy budget” as well as with US military realignment expenses, which is unprecedented in the world. This inevitably raises the assessed value of US military bases in Japan.

Another Pentagon report shows that as of the end of 2024, 52,603 of the 172,014 US troops stationed overseas were in Japan, accounting for 30.6 percent of the total, followed by Germany and South Korea.

Since the end of World War II, Japan has had to bear a US military base burden that is the heaviest in the world, with Japan’s government continuing to do the bidding of the United States. The US administration now led by President Trump is demanding a further increase in Japan’s military spending and sympathy budget.