US troops host Japan set to pay more

In paving the way for Fumio Kishida's first visit to the United States as Japan's prime minister, Tokyo is set to pay more for hosting US troops, Japanese media said.

According to Kyodo News, which cited unidentified government sources, Tokyo is doing so to meet Washington's request and the increase will start from fiscal 2022 with a formal agreement to be signed next month.

"Japan has asked the US to consider using the increase in Tokyo's contribution to fund expenses such as the maintenance of facilities used jointly by the Self-Defense Forces and the US military, rather than covering utilities at US bases as before," sources said.

By doing so, the Japanese government believes that it will make it easier to win public support and help strengthen "the long-standing security alliance", the report added.

In the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2022, Japan is paying 201.7 billion yen ($1.76 billion) to the US as "host nation support" for utilities, training and relocation costs.

Although the details of the plan and the total amount of the increased Japanese contribution have not been disclosed, it is not likely to surpass what was asked by then-US president Donald Trump, who requested that Tokyo quadruple its payments for US troops in Japan.

Full-fledged negotiations

Japan and the US had been discussing the issue since August. Then, the two sides officially began their full-fledged negotiations, with the US citing the importance of its military presence in the region as reasons for Japan to increase its burden. Japan is believed to have insisted that it wants the US to understand that Tokyo cannot massively increase its spending due to its strained finances.

The negotiations were apparently put on the fast track after Kishida expressed eagerness to visit the US shortly after he secured a comfortable majority for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in elections for the legislature's lower house last month.

Since then, the Japanese government has been eyeing a November date for Kishida to meet US President Joe Biden, and senior Japanese and US diplomats have agreed to work on an "early visit".

In line with this goal, meetings involving Japanese officials and their US counterparts have been taking place across a range of policy interests. The talks are understood to have involved Japan's new Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as Japan's trade and industry minister, Koichi Hagiuda, and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

On Wednesday, Hagiuda and Tai vowed in Tokyo to work toward resolving a dispute over extra tariffs on Japan's steel and aluminum exports to the US imposed by Trump.

Since 2018, the US has been levying extra duties of 25 percent on Japanese steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports, and Tokyo has repeatedly sought the normalization of trade while taking no countermeasures against the US.