Japan may kick US Forces Japan out of Okinawa entirely

[PJABBER]

maybe Japan can start printing money to fund a military of their own.

Japan ranks as the 9th most powerful military power in the world, with a good navy, strong logistical infrastructure and very strong capital base. They currently only spend .8 percent of their GDP for their military, but are allowed to spend up to 3% by their Constitution.

2005 spending was at $44.3 billion.

Japan is one hella nice location for US Air Force, Navy and Army staging off the coast of the two Koreas (one hour +/- flight time,) and damn close to China and eastern Russia. We have about 33,000 military personnel in Japan, mostly Navy and Marines, keeping an eye out in case Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il decides to make his personal black mark on history or China decides to test out the effectiveness of its PLA against Taiwan. Or any other number of the other smaller problems that can pop up in the Asia Pacific theater.

 

[lothar]

maybe Japan can start printing money to fund a military of their own.

They already do.
They're ranked 6th worldwide in military spending behind US, China, Russia, France, and UK.

 

[rchiu]

I think some of you are missing the fact that we aren't necessarily in places like Germany and Japan purely for DEFENSIVE purposes.. its also strategic. If we need to take care of business in the region, its a hell of a lot quicker/easier to send troops/planes/supplies from Japan than California.

Strategic for who? US? Just because it's strategic for US does't mean other country has to and want to give up their sovereignty. Even country as weak and closely affliated to the US as the Philippines kicked US military base out of their country, what do you think a proud and advance country like Japan would like to do?

Unless US comes up something worthy enough for Japan to give up their sovereignty, it will be tougher and tougher for US base to stay in Japan. And with Japan's military and economic power continue to grow, what American can offer become less and less valuable to them.

Maybe the US need to look at other options, maybe Taiwan who actually need US protection against big bad China. But again, chicken $hit US government wouldn't want to piss off China and confront China directly.

 

[Jhhnn]

Maybe the US need to look at other options, maybe Taiwan who actually need US protection against big bad China. But again, chicken $hit US government wouldn't want to piss off China and confront China directly.

Not even the Bush Admin was quite that stupid, even if they were close...

 

[Dari]

Strategic for who? US? Just because it's strategic for US does't mean other country has to and want to give up their sovereignty. Even country as weak and closely affliated to the US as the Philippines kicked US military base out of their country, what do you think a proud and advance country like Japan would like to do?

Unless US comes up something worthy enough for Japan to give up their sovereignty, it will be tougher and tougher for US base to stay in Japan. And with Japan's military and economic power continue to grow, what American can offer become less and less valuable to them.

Maybe the US need to look at other options, maybe Taiwan who actually need US protection against big bad China. But again, chicken $hit US government wouldn't want to piss off China and confront China directly.

Maybe we can solicit the Arabs and build a man-made island right next to China.

 

[dainthomas]

Maybe we need to paint "Enola Gay" on the bottom of a B2 and make a few low passes over Naha.

 

[spacejamz]

Despite being defensive, they're one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with a substantial airforce, and I think even coast guard and ground forces. Japan is demilitarized in name only, their constitution, forced on them after WW,2 isn't followed all that closely.

Love the multiparty democracy they have over there too.

DUH...they have to be in case Godzilla shows up...:biggrin:

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sore spot for our diplomatic ties, I say relocate them to a lesser populated area. IIRC, we are moving our military base out of downtown Soul in Korea. I have no problem with keeping a US military presence in Japanese territory (or any of our true allies for that matter), so long as they continue to pay for much of the expenses of doing so.


How about this?
Step 1: Remove troops from Japanese soil
Step 2: Do not criticize them for revisionism of their recent (1800s - ww2) history in their educational system
Step 3: Encourage them to promote militarism and nationalism, sell them goodies in the form of advanced military hardware and natural resources
Step 4: .....
Step 5: Old school Japan returns, takes on China
Step 6: Profit

That plan has no possibility of backfiring.....

(Disclaimer: The above is a joke, I do not want Pearl Harbor 2)

 

[Zebo]

Good! We've emasculated them long enough and now they're into freaky shit like child porn, round eyes, and kitties time for them to grow up again.

 

[Zebo]

Japan ranks as the 9th most powerful military power in the world, with a good navy, strong logistical infrastructure and very strong capital base. They currently only spend .8 percent of their GDP for their military, but are allowed to spend up to 3% by their Constitution.

2005 spending was at $44.3 billion.

Unlike us, they don't need to print or borrow money to finance the military.

Japan is one hella nice location for US Air Force, Navy and Army staging off the coast of the two Koreas (one hour +/- flight time,) and damn close to China and eastern Russia. We have about 33,000 military personnel in Japan, mostly Navy and Marines, keeping an eye out in case Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il decides to make his personal black mark on history or China decides to test out the effectiveness of its PLA against Taiwan. Or any other number of the other smaller problems that can pop up in the Asia Pacific theater.

???? I think Japans debt/GDP ratio is twice ours.

 

[Craig234]

Maybe we need to paint "Enola Gay" on the bottom of a B2 and make a few low passes over Naha.

We have too many psychopaths who think the use of nuclear weapons is a joke.

It's about as funny as expressing displeasure with Israel by suggesting we send them death camp photos.

 

[Dari]

???? I think Japans debt/GDP ratio is twice ours.

That is true. However, the Japanese Government owes all its money to the Japanese people. You can't have a better creditor if you asked for it.

 

[PJABBER]

???? I think Japans debt/GDP ratio is twice ours.

You are right, thanks for catching that. Comes from writing on two different screens and getting distracted. I'll fix it.

Unlike other developed countries, the bulk of Japan's debt (well over 90&#37 is not held offshore but rather by its own citizens, who have thus far shown a willingness to buy more despite Japan's relatively high debt-to-GDP ratio. The problem is that the aging population is unlikely to continue to absorb the debt and the lessening credit quality makes Japanese debt not very palatable to external buyers going forward. Like here, their only real solution is to cut government costs severely and that is not going to sit well with a population used to a high level of entitlements.

Edit: Dari got in first!

 

[BladeVenom]

Bring our boys home. We've had troops there since Truman, and some people complain about how long we've been in Iraq. Time for them to pay to defend their own country.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Bring our boys home. We've had troops there since Truman, and some people complain about how long we've been in Iraq. Time for them to pay to defend their own country.

They do pay, they pay us to defend them. I cannot recall the percentage, but they pay for a large chunk (IIRC, about half) of the expenses to keep our troops stationed there and they provide the land. Take it, we are not generating a profit by being there by any means.

 

[Brainonska511]

They do pay, they pay us to defend them. I cannot recall the percentage, but they pay for a large chunk (IIRC, about half) of the expenses to keep our troops stationed there and they provide the land. Take it, we are not generating a profit by being there by any means.

We're not generating a profit, but we get a major base of operations in that region for projecting power in that area of the world at a discount. And that certainly has a value that may or may not be immediately quantifiable.

 

[JEDIYoda]

That's the thing. China likes things the way they are. They do not want the Japanese scrapping their constitution and becoming more militant. They are very fearful of that.

What I find interesting is that every post of Dari`s is anti Obama even if he has to lie....for example--
After November, will Obama resign for family reasons? --Locked@@!!
why was it locked?? -- Blatant troll thread -Red Dawn Anandtech Admin

It wouldn`t be so bad if dari was just a troll...but he is a stoopid troll why has to lie and be false in order to attack Obama!!

 

[recoil80]

Lets get out of there. Japan can defend themselves.

I don't think the USA are there to protect Japan, the military base is there because of its strategic position, so close to China.

There are many bases in Italy and we had some sort of debate on whether we should keep them or not. There are two major issues: the first one is the presence (not confirmed) of nuclear weapons in some of the bases and the second one is about the presence of military in the villages close to the bases.
We had some cases of rapes and violence and some years ago there was an accident involving two pilots of the USA air force that caused a cableway to fall over. Many people died, as you can immagine.

I'm not against the precence of american soldiers in our country. We are part of NATO and the USA helped our country during WW2, so we are still grateful. But military bases have some setbacks, so there will always be someone whining about their presencec

 

[Fear No Evil]

What I find interesting is that every post of Dari`s is anti Obama even if he has to lie....for example--
After November, will Obama resign for family reasons? --Locked@@!!
why was it locked?? -- Blatant troll thread -Red Dawn Anandtech Admin

It wouldn`t be so bad if dari was just a troll...but he is a stoopid troll why has to lie and be false in order to attack Obama!!

Obama lies. Is he a troll too?

 

[kage69]

Obama, being Obama, has insulted and assaulted the Japanese government and was reluctant to...

As an American who keeps regular tabs on all things Nippon, I stopped reading right there...

Helpful tip: Take meds, THEN turn on computer....