Japan’s defense minister is expected to arrive in Guam Friday to see the progress of Japan government-funded projects for the relocation of almost 5,000 Marines from Okinawa.
Minister Tomomi Inada is expected to visit the military bases on the island, and the proposed site of a future Marine Corps base in Dededo, near Andersen Air Force Base.
Inada also will visit the Aviation Command Element hangar at Andersen, said Lt. Tim Gorman, Joint Region Marianas public information officer.
Inada’s visit followed Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s meeting with Inada in Tokyo last month.
Japan is paying $2.8 billion of the estimated $8.6 billion cost to reduce the presence of U.S. Marines in Okinawa and move about 5,000 of the troops and their 1,300 dependents to Guam, according to the U.S.-Japan revised agreement in 2012.
A 2009 version of the agreement would have resulted in the relocation of 9,000 Marines to Guam, but that plan was downsized after the military acknowledged in an impact study the magnitude would be too great for Guam to handle.
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