The meeting earlier this month addressing the United States-Japan defense cooperation guidelines among Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel failed to address most of the core issues held in place by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
That agreement, never formally revised over more than 50 years, is in desperate need of change. Despite the huge changes in economic conditions, political relations, military technology and other conditions in the Pacific region, the SOFA has remained exactly as it was when first signed in 1960.
Before the meeting, governors from 14 prefectures where U.S. military bases are located submitted a list of proposed revisions. Unfortunately their requests were not included in the high-level discussions. Most importantly, the governors asked for a reconsideration of the purposes of the bases and a review of whether the agreement is helping to improve base-related community conditions. This request is reasonable.