thedrifter
02-10-06, 06:19 AM
Japan paid for U.S. Marines to go on field trips
02/08/2006
By YUICHIRO OKA, The Asahi Shimbun
HIJUDAI, Oita Prefecture--In between drills, U.S. troops here have gone skiing, toured shrines and museums, and even visited a safari park, all on Tokyo's dime.
U.S. Marines based in Okinawa Prefecture use the Ground Self-Defense Force training field here to conduct live ammunition drills. After the drills are finished, but before heading back to base, they have gone on field trips--four of them since 2000, at a total cost of about 4.9 million yen.
The money has come from the government's so-called sympathy budget, part of the cost Japan pays for hosting the U.S. military.
"Japan cannot protest because of the special agreement on hosting U.S. troops in Japan, and the U.S. side sees the field trips as their right," said Tetsuo Maeda, a Tokyo International University expert on the U.S. military in Japan. "This just shows what the 'sympathy budget' is all about."
U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture have been holding drills at the GSDF facility here since 1999. Each training session lasts eight to nine days.
Currently, about 220 Marines are involved in a drill at Hijudai, the sixth training exercise of its kind here so far. The exercise began Jan. 30 and is set to end Friday, after which the troops are expected to take their usual field trips. Citing security reasons, neither the U.S. military nor Japanese officials will disclose the schedule or destinations.
Japan, which requested that the live ammunition drills be relocated out of Okinawa Prefecture, has also shouldered the cost of transporting vehicles and artillery from Okinawa, about 170 million yen this time around. It also paid to build accommodation and mess facilities for the soldiers, estimated at about 3.4 billion yen.
Japan started to pay for the post-drill field trips in 2000 at the request of the U.S. military, according to the Defense Facilities Administration Agency (DFAA), which oversees the hosting of U.S. troops in Japan.
U.S. troops have visited Oita Prefecture attractions, such as Usa Jingu shrine, the Oita Prefectural Museum of History and the African safari animal park, all in Usa, as well as Kuju forest ski park in Kuju. In 2002, the troops visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki.
Bus rental, lunch and entrance fees for each trip have run between 400,000 yen and 1.9 million yen.
A DFAA official said the field trips are "additional costs stemming from relocation of drills at Japan's request," and that Japan is required to pay under a bilateral agreement with the United States.
The field trips are supposed to help U.S. troops learn about Japanese history and culture, the official said, and are considered part and parcel of the relocation of drills out of Okinawa Prefecture.(IHT/Asahi: February 8,2006)
Ellie
02/08/2006
By YUICHIRO OKA, The Asahi Shimbun
HIJUDAI, Oita Prefecture--In between drills, U.S. troops here have gone skiing, toured shrines and museums, and even visited a safari park, all on Tokyo's dime.
U.S. Marines based in Okinawa Prefecture use the Ground Self-Defense Force training field here to conduct live ammunition drills. After the drills are finished, but before heading back to base, they have gone on field trips--four of them since 2000, at a total cost of about 4.9 million yen.
The money has come from the government's so-called sympathy budget, part of the cost Japan pays for hosting the U.S. military.
"Japan cannot protest because of the special agreement on hosting U.S. troops in Japan, and the U.S. side sees the field trips as their right," said Tetsuo Maeda, a Tokyo International University expert on the U.S. military in Japan. "This just shows what the 'sympathy budget' is all about."
U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture have been holding drills at the GSDF facility here since 1999. Each training session lasts eight to nine days.
Currently, about 220 Marines are involved in a drill at Hijudai, the sixth training exercise of its kind here so far. The exercise began Jan. 30 and is set to end Friday, after which the troops are expected to take their usual field trips. Citing security reasons, neither the U.S. military nor Japanese officials will disclose the schedule or destinations.
Japan, which requested that the live ammunition drills be relocated out of Okinawa Prefecture, has also shouldered the cost of transporting vehicles and artillery from Okinawa, about 170 million yen this time around. It also paid to build accommodation and mess facilities for the soldiers, estimated at about 3.4 billion yen.
Japan started to pay for the post-drill field trips in 2000 at the request of the U.S. military, according to the Defense Facilities Administration Agency (DFAA), which oversees the hosting of U.S. troops in Japan.
U.S. troops have visited Oita Prefecture attractions, such as Usa Jingu shrine, the Oita Prefectural Museum of History and the African safari animal park, all in Usa, as well as Kuju forest ski park in Kuju. In 2002, the troops visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki.
Bus rental, lunch and entrance fees for each trip have run between 400,000 yen and 1.9 million yen.
A DFAA official said the field trips are "additional costs stemming from relocation of drills at Japan's request," and that Japan is required to pay under a bilateral agreement with the United States.
The field trips are supposed to help U.S. troops learn about Japanese history and culture, the official said, and are considered part and parcel of the relocation of drills out of Okinawa Prefecture.(IHT/Asahi: February 8,2006)
Ellie