The five year special agreement on Japan’s huge financial support for the United States Forces based in Japan is up for renewal and the various agencies in Japan are bracing themselves for a heated Japan-US debate. The “sympathy budget” – or special host nation financial support – came into effect in 1978, when the United States was plagued by a huge fiscal deficit.Now the boot is on the other foot. The US is producing a gigantic budget surplus but the Japanese Government, wracked by a huge budg…
