Japan offers $336 mil to pay for U.S. Marines' transfer to Guam

Japan agreed Saturday with the United States to offer $336 million in total for the current fiscal year to realize the planned transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam by 2014, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and James Zumwalt, charge d’affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, exchanged notes on the funding, given that an accord committing the two countries to following through on the transfer took effect May 19.

The accord gives a legal basis to the 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, commonly referred to as the ‘‘road map,’’ which Tokyo and Washington say is meant to reduce the burden on communities near U.S. bases. It legally requires Tokyo to spend up to $2.8 billion on infrastructure projects on the U.S. territory in the Pacific. The $336 million, or about 34.6 billion yen, will be used for infrastructure projects in the Finegayan area and Apra Harbor on Guam, the ministry said.

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