Should the U.S. forces leave Japan?

[Hyakushi]

Well if its too expensive to stay in japan then we should just kill off prisoners instead of keeping jail houses open there really really expensive and all they do is sit around and eat =/ but right now we actually have some ground with japan and there even paying for troops to be sent there so I don't see anything wrong with it.

[UNaruto1990]

If Japan was able to protect itself there would be no real difference if US troops where there or not, that's why I said Japan should be able to protect itself, and my personal view is that US troops in Japan are not related to whether there would be a war between S.korea and N.korea or not.

Bottom line, US troops should be gone out of Japan and totally, and Japan should be allowed to build whatever army it wanted, Japan is more than capable of building an army that is more advanced than USA's or China's...

[EveV]

Building an army that was good enough to protect the country would take time.
Even if the U.S were to pull out they'd have to stay there for some time to make sure Japan was completely ready for them to leave.

Also. These factors completely slipped my mind but they're very important.
Fighting and Korea dominating has ceased because the U.S is breathing down their backs.

Originally Posted by dannavy85

If the United States pulled out of Japan....

1. North Korea would attack South Korea.

2. China could effectively blockade Japan into submission.

Japan is a key strategic point in the Pacific rim in order to keep the North Pacific stable. The Japanese understand the seriousness of their position, if they didn't they wouldn't have allowed the USS Washington to be based in Yokosuka.

[UNaruto1990]

The US is breathing behind their back whether they were in Japan or not, it's a small planet we're living in!!

[EveV]

Originally Posted by UNaruto1990

The US is breathing behind their back whether they were in Japan or not, it's a small planet we're living in!!

Most wars are influenced,stopped or course changed because of geography.
Not a very small world x.x

[UNaruto1990]

1) there is not enough US army in Japan to stop a war.
2) If both koreas wanted to fight, US army can deal with it whether they were in Japan or USA, it won't really make any difference.

[EveV]

Originally Posted by UNaruto1990

1) there is not enough US army in Japan to stop a war.
2) If both koreas wanted to fight, US army can deal with it whether they were in Japan or USA, it won't really make any difference.

Yes it well.
Do you think the u.s army in invincible or that we have magical teleporting powers? <<
Of course there isn't enough U.S troops in Japan to stop a war.
But once the war starts , that'll be the first line of defense.
Which is very valuable to keep close to the enemy.

[xYinniex]

Originally Posted by Joedirt

It is very expensive for the United States to keep its military in Japan. Should the U.S. withdraw its troops and leave Japan? I was stationed in Okinawa back in 1989-1992. We took up a lot of space on the island and most people did not want us there anyway.

I think it is too expensive for the United States to maintain a presence in Japan and Korea.

It's more expensive for america not to be in Japan. Since Japan and america obviously maintain good communications and hence there is a well driven economy built up between them. It's an investment and it seems unlikely for the countries to pull out of an investment.

[UNaruto1990]

I don't think that US army is even strong if you wanted the truth, but the USA has enough missles, aircrafts to fight in korea even if it wasn't in Japan, what would be the difference? 2 hours? it won't be more than 1 hour.

[Amnell]

Insofar as a second Korean war is concerned, the reason we need to keep forces in Japan is because Kadena AFB in Okinawa would serve a logistics hub and stretegic launch point for US forces. We do have an air base in Seoul and several other South Korean cities, but most of these are equipped primarily with fighter/interceptor aircraft and ground forces. Kadena AFB is where our B-2's and other long range bombers--not to mention the C-130's that drop FOOD for refugees--take off from. Pulling out of Japan while North Korea and South Korea want (thier own form of) unification is a VERY bad idea.

Aside from all of that, the U.S. has major bases all around the world. Why? So that we can rapid-deploy our forces in the event of an emergency, i.e. it won't take thrity-six hours for our first brigade of Marines and their fighting vehicles to get to the problem area and deploy. Our stations in Japan are our Asia-Pacific hub. It isn't any different than us having bases in Germany or down in Africa or wherever (and no one's complained about that o_O ).