Mapping the US forces in Japan

With all the recent hubbub about the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, it seems like an opportune time to unveil a little project I’ve been working on: a Google map of all the US military facilities in Japan. Okinawa is, of course, the most dramatically colonized region by a long shot.


View US military facilities in Japan in a larger map

But equally interesting is the Tokyo area, which contains a number of huge and not-so-huge American outposts.


View US military facilities in Japan in a larger map

This is still a work in progress, as facility names, locations and borders can be occasionally hard to pinpoint without being on the ground or on the inside, so comments are welcome.

29 thoughts on “Mapping the US forces in Japan”

  1. I’ve read somewhere that the sum total of US military facilities take up 1% of all habitable land in Japan.

  2. The size of what you label “Camp Fuji” is rather misleading: 32,000 acres of it are the “North Fuji Maneuver Area (NFMA)” and “East Fuji Maneuver Area (EFMA)”, owned by the Government of Japan and used by both the JSDF and the US military. Camp Fuji itself is only 309 acres, or barely over a square km. See: http://www.fuji.usmc.mil/history.htm

  3. I was talking with SDF buddy of mine from college days and he told me that the American aircrafts from either Yokota or Atsugi can strike any targets in Metropolitan area as they wish and there’s nothing ASDF can do about because the closest air field is in Hyakuri,Ibaragi which is miles away.

  4. Aceface: The more interesting fact (to me) is that much of western Tokyo’s airspace is reserved for US military maneuvers and off limits to Japanese civilian planes — a major reason why flights in and out of Haneda don’t fly directly to the west of the airport, but rather take a course through the mouth of Tokyo Bay. (Noise abatement is also an issue, I believe.)

  5. I don’t think there will be much reason to erase Futenma from that map anytime soon…

    ”there’s nothing ASDF can do about because the closest air field is in Hyakuri,Ibaragi which is miles away.”

    I expect there wouldn’t be anything the ASDF could do about it if they had an airfield in Shibuya.

    BTW, am I the only one who thinks it is silly to name a military encampment on a Japanese island “Camp Hansen”?

  6. “The more interesting fact (to me) is that much of western Tokyo’s airspace is reserved for US military maneuvers and off limits to Japanese civilian planes”

    That’s understandable since the only airport in western Tokyo is the airfield in Tachikawa,which is open to Japanese civilian planes,but not for the size of commercial flight.On the contrary,the base in Yokota is huge where all the giant American planes like CV-17 lands there and used for the logistic purposes.No reason why they are still keeping it to themselves since Kadena would do to serve the need of the US and they can always use the base in Ilma or elsewhere to support the Japanese in case of crisis.
    I’d guess there’s some symbolic reasons to keep a huge air base in outskirts of Tokyo to send in full batallion of American troops in a very short amount of time.

    “I expect there wouldn’t be anything the ASDF could do about it if they had an airfield in Shibuya.”

    Same kind of argument took place between Eto Jun and New York Times reporter(or was it Washingtonn Post)during the heyday of Japan bashing in the 80’s.
    American journalist showed up to Eto’s residence to chat with potential Japanese militarization and Eto shrugged off with the episode.However,his interview was never used in the article,according to Eto.

    The names like “Hansen” and “Schwab”came from the fallen GIs killed in action in Okinawa back in ’45.Tell you more about the true nature of American base in the island.

  7. “Tell you more about the true nature of American base in the island.”

    Yes. Type “Okinawa” into amazon.com, and it’s all about the battle. Tells you something about where the islands sit in the American consciousness. There was one ethnography on Henoko in the late 1990s I bought, which was pretty interesting. Described how the anti-base movement is linking itself to universal issues which have more appeal in Japan rather than just focusing on a local identity as an oppressed people, thus gaining more hondo support in times like these. His predictions seem to have been correct if you look at environmental protest. Also made the point that such middle class concerns have come about because of omoiyariyosan, thus the more money Tokyo throws at the problem, the bigger the middle class in Oki, and the more effective resistance. Anyway, damned fine read if you can bear anthropological jargon and bad editing.

    http://www.amazon.com/Okinawa-U-S-Military-Identity-Globalization/dp/0231138903/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275192873&sr=8-27

  8. “Type “Okinawa” into amazon.com, and it’s all about the battle.”

    I’ve read most of them. The majority devote a page to each of the Medal of Honor winners and a footnote to 100,000 dead civilians.

  9. ”His predictions seem to have been correct if you look at environmental protest.”

    Which is a HUGE change in Okinawa(and to some extent in Amami)because the locals tend to welcome any sort of development plans in the past.I remember when WWF et al had launched protest against airport in Shiraho reef in Ishigaki island which is the northernmost region of coral reef.Lots of Okinawans had denounced that “Yamatonchu don’t understand the Okinawan sentiments,blah blah,blah”.Same sort of things happened with protest against logging in National forest in Yanbaru in the early 90’s to protect endemic Okinawa woodpecker and Okinawa rail.Almost no local support.So I’d have to imagine most of the Duggong conservation movement would have very little political support if it has nothing to do with the US base.

  10. The JASDF will be moving their headquarters from Fuchu to Yokota AB over the coming year, and supporting facilities (dorms, a Japanese base exchange, etc) are supposed to be in the pipeline. Presumably it will remain a USAF installation, but the ASDF will be playing an increasingly visible role in operations here.

    Thanks a ton for making this map, btw– I’ve been wanting to create a similar one for a long time but never got around to it. If you’re soliciting suggestions for improvements, it’d be neat-o if each site was linked to its respective Wikipedia/GlobalSecurity.org page.

  11. “I’d have to imagine most of the Duggong conservation movement would have very little political support if it has nothing to do with the US base.”

    That’s something Inoue implies. Apparently the “fact” that the dugong “lived” in the area was first brought up by the communists who printed something along the lines of “there are reports that the dugong has been seen in the area” in one of their pamphlets. From then on, there was a mad rush by media outlets to find a dugong, and then after a while one was spotted. This doesn’t invalidate the environmental reasons to resist the base, but it shows how the construction of interest works.

  12. I have a Okinawa base map that is fairly in depth from the Okinawa Prefectural Government I could scan if you wanted to use it. Has training areas and a breakup of the different branches of the military. Only thing is its from 2007-08.

  13. ”Apparently the “fact” that the dugong “lived” in the area was first brought up by the communists who printed something along the lines of “there are reports that the dugong has been seen in the area” in one of their pamphlets. ”

    To be very specific,I think communists are the first one to “politicized” the dugong debate.The dugong presence was known for quite some time.I used to have a dugong postal stamp issued by Ryukyu government in the 60’s.Seemingly it was “re-discovered” in the 21st century,although in my belief,the research wasn’t conducted with enough budget.
    http://love-dugong.net/project/hanasi/6.html

    What matters in the off-coast of Henoko is this sea weed called Zostera marina known as Amamo in Japanese.There’s actually some civic movement elsewhere in the country to re-plant amamo in the area where it was once seen,yet gone because of development mostly reclamation.Amamo plantation helps recover marine life population in waterzone.The researcher at Mie prefecture is now trying tore-establish amamo plantation in Ise bay.These method can be used in Okinawa as mitigation of Heneko.

  14. If the U.S. armed forces presence here were as great as some make it out, it’s hard to see how “omoiyariyosan” covers even a fraction of the actual cost to maintain such a force.

    In times of tight budgets back home, it sounds like the more more politically viable approach for Minshuto / SPD would have been to point out the areas of waste to the appropriate parties in Congress, and suggest it would be good way for America to save money. Especially, when America can’t find the dough for a one-month unemployment benefit extension.

  15. Hoofin, I think that you are right. However, on the flip side, you can also say that if anyone in the Obama administration had a modicum of knowledge about Japanese mass culture, etc. they could have played Japanese public opinion like a fiddle. Obama should have been all smiles instead of snubs and Hillary the Enforcer. They ended up treating the DPJ like a bunch of uppity Republicans and missed a chance for a rhetoric of solidarity on The Alliance.

  16. “In times of tight budgets back home, it sounds like the more more politically viable approach for Minshuto / SPD would have been to point out the areas of waste to the appropriate parties in Congress, and suggest it would be good way for America to save money.”

    Except that it is not U.S. money. And it is a great deal. The Americans get 75 percent of their operating costs covered in Japan, which at around $4b is equal or greater than the ENTIRE military budgets of some 80 percent of the world’s nations. NK only spends a billion or so more. And Japan’s $4billion does not include the billions directed specifically at towns like Nago to keep them pliant.

  17. Plus the structure of Japanese self defense force heavily influenced by the demand of Pentagon as much as the restriction of the American made constitution.
    There are numbers of american made equipments that were bought to serve the needs of Pentagon in the name of defense of Japan,but actually serves American interest.
    AEGIS destroyers intended to escort US 7th fleet and defend from Soviet Backfires,F-2 support fighter which was developed under “mutual development program” that enforced to buy American F-16 yet did not give Tokyo to access to many techonologies(on the other hand,Washington demanded the ones developed by Toky)Way too many anti-sub and mine operation units that suit the needs of MSDF。

    But most of all,everyone forgets about the merit of American being in Japan in the first place.And by doing so,Washington can maintain the top dog status in Asia-Pacific region and beyond,with added bonus of making Tokyo down on their knees.

  18. Of course, I think that Aceface and Fat Tony are right as well, but Hoofin’ did mention –
    “appropriate parties in Congress”. In a case like this, I think that it is important to consider that America is not a single actor and some savvy behavior on the Japanese side couldn’t hurt.

  19. Tony says:

    “Except that it is not U.S. money. And it is a great deal. The Americans get 75 percent of their operating costs covered in Japan, which at around $4b is equal or greater than the ENTIRE military budgets of some 80 percent of the world’s nations. NK only spends a billion or so more. And Japan’s $4billion does not include the billions directed specifically at towns like Nago to keep them pliant.”

    I’ve heard all sorts of numbers for this, but never any higher than $2 billion. Although it’s called “sympathy budget”, most of the money was actually part of the agreement in the 1960 Treaty. Around 1978, Miki or one of those battery of late ’70’s-early ’80’s PMs decided to add a top-up because of the strengthening yen. This was called “omoiyariyosan” (sympathy budget), and then–in unfortunate Japanese fashion–the whole 1960 Treaty contribution casually became known as “omoiyari”.

    One thing that is consistent is the term “operating budget”. The Japanese contribute zero to the CAPITAL budget, which is more. We bring the equipment and the Japanese pay zero costs. Rightly so, perhaps, because I’m not sure how a rent-to-own Seventh Fleet or Fifth Air Force deal would work out.

    M-Bone says:

    “you can also say that if anyone in the Obama administration had a modicum of knowledge about Japanese mass culture, etc. they could have played Japanese public opinion like a fiddle. Obama should have been all smiles instead of snubs and Hillary the Enforcer. They ended up treating the DPJ like a bunch of uppity Republicans and missed a chance for a rhetoric of solidarity on The Alliance.”

    This sounds a bit like the Tobias Harris explanation. The only problem was that from the get-go, the DPJ was asking America to bargain against itself, and the only alternative that DPJ was providing amounted to thin air. Weren’t they basically saying, “America, why don’t you move the bases off Okinawa, and then figure out how you are going maintain your regional security commitments in the Pacific Northwest?”

    I don’t see what the Obama Administration could have done differently, given the game that Ozawa had going on, and it just emphasizes the risk of adopting, full scale, the platform of a minor party like SPD. (For a reason it’s a minor party.) It’s no surprise that DPJ is at 19%. They spent nine months emphasizing a platform of a party that has trouble breaking 4%.

    I am sure this kind of tactic was used before Don Corleone popularized it in the Godfather (“Here’s my offer Senator: nothing.”) But it’s just sad when grown adults seem to want to emulate fictional movie characters.

  20. “I’ve heard all sorts of numbers for this, but never any higher than $2 billion. ”

    Which is big enough chunk of cash these days….

    “Around 1978, Miki or one of those battery of late ‘70’s-early ‘80’s PMs decided to add a top-up because of the strengthening yen. ”

    Miki?Never.It was Fukuda.

    “We bring the equipment and the Japanese pay zero costs. Rightly so, perhaps, because I’m not sure how a rent-to-own Seventh Fleet or Fifth Air Force deal would work out.”

    I think you are missing the key point.
    Japan is allowiing American to bring in the equipments into her territory and the Americans pay zero costs.Neither the seventh fleet nor Fifth Air Force lose much of it’s strategic meaning if they lose the platform that is Japan.

    “Weren’t they basically saying, “America, why don’t you move the bases off Okinawa, and then figure out how you are going maintain your regional security commitments in the Pacific Northwest?””

    Correct me if I’m wrong,but it was more like “America,why don’t you move A base
    off Okinawa,and then let’s figure out how we are going to maintain your regional security commitments in the Pacific?”.

    “But it’s just sad when grown adults seem to want to emulate fictional movie characters.”

    Wasn’t Gates pretty much mimicked another line from The Godfather when he was here in January too?Like “I’m making you an offer you can’t refuse?”

  21. I know that it is the JCP newspaper, but more than $4,000,000,000 seems to be the right number.

    http://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik4/2006-02-21/2006022103_01_0.html

    In any case, with “change” becoming a big buzz word in Japan, did anyone in the new US administration do anything to differentiate Obama’s democrats from the status quo of the Bush years?

    “asking America to bargain against itself”

    Or asking Obama to bargain against Bush, which is what his entire presidency was based on. If the only option being put forward from Washington is a “my way or the highway” zero sum game where American priorities and rhetoric are unchanging, that is fine. One can’t expect to do that and be liked, however, especially in Okinawa. What was needed was a charm offensive which costs nothing. Doing the hardball behind the scenes while making a big deal about onsen and sushi and Japan Cool costs nothing. The Alliance didn’t need to be changed (from the American POV), what needed change was the way of talking about The Alliance. Instead we got a complete disregard for local democracy, snubs, and hissy fits.

    Seeing that Hatoyama was talking one way (new alliance, fraternal love with China) but had nothing approaching a clear vision, a smarter Washington could have worked to foster two things – a material solution that fits with American plans and an immaterial / rhetorical compromise that puts a new layer of polish on Ampo. Instead, they ended up looking a whole lot like those manga versions of American ambassadors who bang on the table and tell Japan to get in line.

  22. Don’t take the commies’ word for it. Ask the U.S. DOD.

    Host Nation Support/ Defense Cost Sharing (2002)
    (Millions)
    Direct Support……………………………………………………….$3,228.43
    Indirect Support……………………………………………………..$1,182.92
    Total…………………………………………………………………… $4,411.34
    U.S. Stationing Cost Offset Percentage………………………………… 74.5%

    http://www.defense.gov/pubs/allied_contrib2004/allied2004.pdf

    Somewhat old data, I know, but still fairly accurate. Here is a more confusing explanation courtesy of the Ministry of Defense, which I guess wants no one to understand what is going on.

    http://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/zaibeigun/us_keihi/keihi.html

    The bit in blue labelled (1) is the non-SOFA related costs promised started under Fukuda – actually by JDA director Kanemaru Shin, who used the word “omoiyari,” but never “yosan”: it was the socialists who came up with the full phrase. The bit labelled (2) is SOFA related costs. They are about the same, but the non-SOFA related costs are slightly higher, especially if you factor in the SACO and realignment expenses. Can’t have the Americans paying to build a base on their own land, now, can we?

    In any case, it doesn’t really matter. As you can see above, the U.S. government doesn’t really care whether the money is offered out of “sympathy” or not. In fact, they would rather avoid the term altogether.

    “We bring the equipment and the Japanese pay zero costs.”

    Pardon me? Do you want the Japanese to pay for the equipment, training,* and the wages of your military now? And there is that ol’ building the base on U.S. territory thing again. How’s that for CAPITAL costs? Here’s a hint. 4,000,000,000 bucks is 4,000,000,000 bucks. What the U.S. government and military does not have to pay for because of Japanese largess can be offset elsewhere.

    Also, there are certain people in Okinawa who do not believe they pay “zero costs.”

    “Weren’t they basically saying, “America, why don’t you move the bases off Okinawa, and then figure out how you are going maintain your regional security commitments in the Pacific Northwest?”

    Actually, the DPJ didn’t say much about the bases to the Americans at all until Robert Gates’ head exploded. I think they would have sidelined the issue until after the July election, concentrated on their domestic agenda, and then backed down on Futenma/Henoko later. The manifesto certainly didn’t say anything about a return, and there was no sense of panic until October. The U.S. has acheived its short-term goals, but it may have made a basket case out of the politics of its closest ally in Asia for the next three years. But that’s Washington for you. “Realism” means doing what the U.S. wants you to do… now.

    *Actually, Japan bears some of the cost (transport) of the training already.

  23. And by the way, I’m with most Japanese who seem to think that separating omoiyariyosan from SOFA-related costs is nonsense. As I said, 4,000,000,000 bucks is 4,000,000,000 bucks. Japan’s payment for the rental of the bases (just over a bill) I can swallow – they are expected to ‘provide’ the land after all. But for the rest it doesn’t too much matter if there is a treaty or not. Sure, there is a semantic difference, but really, who cares?

  24. Question: How many of the facilities on Okinawa could be moved either to the pre-existing bases on Honshu or to new bases in economically depressed parts of Japan?

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