Japan and the United States signed an agreement last month on a five-year extension of Japan's host-nation financial support to help cover part of the costs of stationing U.S. forces in Japan under the bilateral security arrangement.
Called "omoiyari yosan" (sympathy budget) in Japanese, the new special agreement extends by five years the current three-year arrangement that is to expire at the end of March and consists mainly of Japan's annual outlay of ¥188.1 billion, almost the same as the current amount. The government wants to have the new agreement approved by the Diet by the end of March.
Despite the parliamentary division with the Upper House controlled by the opposition forces, there seems to be no major obstacle to Diet approval of the agreement. In particular, unstable situations abroad favor efforts to secure effective activities of the U.S. forces in this part of the Pacific.