Roos 'Hard Bargains' Japan: Stick To The Plan (Or 8,600 Marines Don't Go To Guam)

Roos 'Hard Bargains' Japan: Stick To The Plan (Or 8,600 Marines Don't Go To Guam)

At Stake: Okinawan Relief...And The Harmony Of US-Japan Relations

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Tuesday, 01 December 2009 16:16

GUAM - In civilian life he's a pragmatic lawyer and businessman with a lot of experience in Japan and a knack for one of the country's most cutting-edge industries: technology. He also knows a thing or two about the environmental and climate change issues so mutually important to American-Japan relations.

In service to his country, John Roos is now President Obama's Ambassador to Japan. And the businessman is driving a hard bargain with Japan's indecisive new government: decide now to stick to the bilateral troop transfer plan laid out in 2006, or hold up the Guam buildup and sour U.S.-Japan relations. Japan Democrats say they hope to iron this wrinkle out by year’s end.

That, according to the Associated Press.

Under the U.S.-Japan accord, the functions of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma would move out of Okinawa's crowded Ginowan City to a remote part of the prefecture called Nago, near America's Camp Schwab military base.

Alongside the internal Okinawa move, as many as 8,600 Marines and their 9,000 or so dependents would transfer to Guam, where a $15 billion buildup is scheduled to get underway by late next summer.

Read the Associates Press story, "US envoy urges Okinawa base issue resolved soon", December 1, 2009.