U.S. Forces Japan marks HQ's 50th anniversary

The U.S. Forces Japan headquarters marked its 50th anniversary with a ceremony Monday at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.

"Our security alliance has matured," Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, said in his address to the ceremony. "We saw this clearly in how Japan and the United States worked together before, during and after North Korea's provocative missile launches in July 2006."

The first headquarters was activated at Fuchu Air Station in Fuchu, also in western Tokyo, on July 1, 1957, replacing the Far East Command. It moved in 1974 to Yokota Air Base, which covers parts of six municipalities in western Tokyo, namely Fussa, Musashi Murayama, Tachikawa, Akishima, Hamura and Mizuho.