The realignment of U.S. forces will cost Japan 1.1 trillion yen over the next eight to 10 years, on top of the roughly 700 billion yen the government has agreed to contribute to cost of transferring U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, according to a new estimate revealed by official sources.
The estimate indicates that more than 300 billion yen will be needed to build an airfield along the shoreline of Camp Schwab, near Nago. The new field will take over operations currently handled by the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
The new projections are a sharp downward revision of the government's initial estimate that it would need around 2 trillion yen over the next 10 years to cover costs associated with the realignment, excluding the Guam relocation costs.