United States Forces in Japan (USFJ) and Extraterritoriality

Abstract

This paper examines the Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and Japan (SOFA) and the true nature of USFJ, whose supposed role is to protect the Japanese people under the United States–Japan Security Treaty. The Japanese people are told by their government and the United States government that USFJ are there to protect them. However, statistics show that USFJ in many cases harmed the local people. Moreover, the Japanese government pays a huge amount of money to USFJ for Host Nation Support (HNS) every year. In other words, the Japanese people are actually paying money to the people who hurt them. Therefore, the paper recommends that Japan first decrease HNS, then eliminate it. Japan should also ask the United States to reduce USFJ and revise SOFA so that Japan regains its sovereignty and protects the Japanese people.