[Ronin4hire]

US forces are there to stifle the Chinese and Russian military influence in the region and to help contain North Korea along with their bases in South Korea.

The Japanese Defence Force is a powerful, typical conventional military force except in name only. It is considered by experts as more powerful and more modern than either the British and French militaries. The naming of the Japanese military as the "JDF" is so that they can have a military while not violating the pacifist constitution which they drew up after WW2.

Personally I'm not for or against US forces in South East Asia as I feel it's an issue for the people of Okinawa, South Korea and to some extent America to decide and I don't feel threatened by Chinese military modernization and expansion of their influence.