Regarding the Oct. 8 article "U.S. wants more base funds": So America's military racketeers want Japan to fork up more money for protection, eh? Japanese taxpayers might do well to ask, "Protection exactly from whom?"
Japan has virtually no natural resources for others to covet -- no minerals, oil, or natural gas to speak of -- so who then is going to attack Japan? And what would be the motive?
The fact is that U.S. bases are not here to "protect" Japan but to project American military might over the Pacific and Asia -- initially as a check against communist regional influence, but now simply as a strategic means of retaining global hegemony. This show of force naturally creates unease among some of Japan's neighbors, prompting them in turn to boost their deterrence. The whole region then gets caught in a vicious circle of distrust and armament. As such, it could be argued that the U.S. presence actually diminishes Japan's national security rather than enhances it.
As friends and equals we should respectfully tell the United States, thank you but we don't need its protection. Japan would better profit from spending the annual ¥200 billion-plus allocated to the "sympathy budget" on domestic concerns such as health care, the pension system and education, rather than subsidizing a foreign military presence like some vassal state of old.