'U.S. and Japan agree on defense costs'

The Japanese government's share of the U.S. military presence in Japan has been set at 1.7 billion yen, up 1.2% from the previous year.

According to Kyodo News on the 17th, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters in the evening that he had agreed with the U.S. side.

The U.S. military contribution to Japan was 9.3 billion yen reflected in the Japanese government's fiscal 2020 budget.

The reason why the U.S. military contribution to Japan has virtually remained at the current level is that the two countries have agreed to temporarily extend the U.S.-Japan special agreement on defense costs, the basis for sharing the cost of stationing. The agreement, which will be renewed on a five-year basis, was set to end at the end of March this year.

The U.S., Japan and the U.S. began working-level talks on the cost of stationing U.S. troops in Japan in November As it became clear that then U.S. President Donald Trump, who demanded a significant increase in the negotiations, resigned, Japan postponed the agreement after the U.S. regime change.

In his first U.S.-Japan foreign ministerial call on 27th of last month after Biden's inauguration, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Mottegi reportedly proposed a one-year extension of the defense spending agreement to U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinkon.

In response, the two countries began to resume working-level talks on U.S. military contributions to Japan on the 2nd, agreeing to extend the defense cost agreement and Japan's share in about two weeks.