Tag: USFJ

I have hard time believing that Russia was ever going to “attack” Japan like this Newsweek report is claiming. An attack on Japan would trigger the US-Japan alliance which would lead to an overwhelming military response that would crush whatever attack Russia launched. With that all said, after what we have seen of the Russian performance in Ukraine, the Japanese military could probably defeat any Russian attack without American assistance:

Russia was preparing to attack Japan in the summer of 2021, months before President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an email featuring a letter from a whistleblower at Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), shared with Newsweek, reveals.

The email, dated March 17, was sent by the agent, dubbed the Wind of Change, to Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human-rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, and is now exiled in France.

The FSB agent writes regular dispatches to Osechkin, revealing the anger and discontent inside the service over the war that began when Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24.

Newsweek

You can read more at the link, but what I can believe is that Russia may have been determining the likelihood of succeeding with a provocation against Japan such as sinking one of its naval ships. This would put Japan in tough spot because their constitution would not allow them to undertake offensive operations and thus the Japanese government would turn to the U.S. for support.

This would also put the U.S. in a tough spot because the Biden administration would have to determine if taking offensive action against Russia is worth it in response to a sunken Japanese ship. Putin would likely bet no offensive military action would be taken and instead toothless sanctions and sternly worded letters would be issued. The lack of a response from the U.S. would have put a strain on the U.S.-Japan alliance which is what their ultimate goal may have been. Additionally sinking a Japanese ship would be a morale boost for the Russian Pacific Fleet. I wonder if Putin wishes he would have initiated a provocation against Japan instead of his current disastrous war in Ukraine?

USFJ has changed their curfew policy to be age based instead of rank based:

Liberty policies for U.S. service members in Japan ages 20 and older are about to become a little more generous, according to changes announced Thursday by U.S. Forces Japan.

New policies that take effect Monday will permit individual commands to shift their curfews from rank-based to age-based, USFJ spokesman Maj. Thomas Barger told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday. The standard 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in place since March 2020 that applies to enlisted service members of E-5 and below will apply instead to members ages 19 and younger, he said.

Eligible service members may have another drink in that extra hour. The changes move the deadline for consuming alcohol off-base from midnight to 1 a.m., according to Barger.

Service members in Japan are currently prohibited from consuming alcohol anywhere but their residence, hotel or other quarters between midnight and 5 a.m. The same conditions will apply under the 1 a.m. deadline.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

North Korea gets all the media attention with their ballistic missile tests, but China quietly over the past decade has developed far more advanced ballistic missiles than anything the Kim regime has. This movement of aircraft at Kadena Airbase is evidence of that reality:

The Air Force move to replace F-15 Eagle fighters with rotating units of more advanced fighters signals awareness that Okinawan bases won’t survive a conflict with China, according to a former Marine fighter pilot and diplomat.

A two-year phased withdrawal of two squadrons flying the supersonic aircraft from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, began Nov. 1, soon after the release of the new U.S. National Defense Strategy highlighting China as the American military’s “pacing” challenge.

“You can look at it (removal of the F-15s) as the USAF coming to grips with the reality that nothing on the first island chain, especially not Kadena, will be survivable in a conflict with China,” Steve Ganyard, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, told Stars and Stripes in an email Friday.

China’s massive military build-up includes an expanding arsenal of missiles with many of the weapons presumed to be aimed at U.S. bases in Japan. A 2017 report by Navy Cmdr. Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, for example, includes satellite imagery of Chinese missile test sites that appear to mimic Yokota, Kadena and Misawa air bases.

Around a dozen F-22 Raptor jets arrived on Okinawa Nov. 4 from the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to start a six-month rotation while the F-15s head home. The Air Force described the Raptors as “backfill” for the retiring F-15s while the Defense Department decides on a long-term plan to fulfill its obligations to Japan.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Many personnel in USFJ lost their cost of living allowance (COLA) and the falling yen is helping to soften the financial blow for these service members:

 Japan’s plunging currency is softening the impact of inflation on American military personnel stationed in the country, even as the government cuts their allowances.

A dollar bought just over 149 yen on Monday for the first time in 32 years and was hovering around that level Tuesday evening. The yen has dropped 23% against the dollar this year as Japan continues to keep interest rates near zero.

In contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate at each of its past three meetings, most recently in September, bringing the rate to between 3% and 3.25%, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

A higher interest rate is expected to slow inflation, but by promising higher yields it also attracts investment to the United States, which strengthens the dollar compared to other nations’ currencies.

The strong dollar is welcomed by U.S. service members in Japan, most of whomhave hundreds of dollars less to spend each pay period due to cuts in their cost-of-living allowance this month.

Most are no longer receiving COLA — tax-free money to help offset the costs of living in expensive areas overseas — following changes announced by the State Department on Oct. 1.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

A big pay cut is coming to U.S. troops stationed in Japan at the same time prices are rising on just about everything:

Cost-of-living allowance cuts have left U.S. service members stationed in Japan with hundreds of dollars less to spend each pay period, amid a weak yen and rising prices for off-base goods and services. 

Most service members in the country are no longer receiving COLA — a tax-free allowance to help offset the costs of living in expensive areas overseas — following changes announced by the State Department on Oct. 1.

COLA fell to zero this month for troops on Okinawa, home to more than a dozen U.S. bases and the lion’s share of the 55,000 service members in Japan; at Yokosuka Naval Base, homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet about 35 miles south of Tokyo; and at Yokota Air Base, an airlift hub that serves as headquarters for U.S. Forces Japan.

An online COLA calculator provided by the Defense Department shows that a sergeant stationed at Yokota with six years’ service and two dependents would have received more than $600 in COLA last October. A captain with the same family size and length of service would have gotten more than $800.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Much like USFK, U.S. Forces Japan is seeing a continued drop in cases despite the relatively high case counts in the surrounding population:

 Another 17,113 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan’s capital city, public broadcaster NHK reported Tuesday, a number slightly below the running seven-day average but still comparatively high in the history of Japan’s coronavirus pandemic. 

Tokyo and other prefectures, including neighboring Kanagawa, home of the U.S. 7th Fleet, asked the central government to extend a quasi-emergency scheduled to end Sunday, according to Kyodo News on Tuesday.

Thirty-four of Japan’s 47 prefectures are under public health restrictions. Quasi-emergency measures encourage bars and restaurants to close early and refrain from alcohol sales, and residents to avoid unnecessary travel. 

In Tokyo, the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients surpassed 50 for the first time since October, NHK reported. Still, less than 10% of hospital beds reserved for those patients are filled. But 55% of those set aside for routine coronavirus patients were filled on Monday, according to metro government data.

Japan’s new case numbers fell from 103,038 on Thursday to 92,865 on Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization.

U.S. Forces Japan on Tuesday reported 103 new cases at 15 installations,34 fewer than the previous day, according to its daily update. Yokosuka Naval Base again held the top spot with 61 new cases. Tied for No. 2 were Yokota Air Base and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni with nine each.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like servicemembers in Japan will be stuck on their bases for a little while longer:

The U.S. military authority in Japan has extended a stay-at-home order until Jan. 31 for its service members, civilian employees and their families as COVID-19 continues to spready quickly throughout the nation.

“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution to protect all personnel from rapid spread of COVID-19 in local communities,” U.S. Forces Japan announced on its website Friday. The original two-week order was scheduled to expire Monday.

Omicron, while creating milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizations than previous variants, continues to infect record numbers of people in Japan. But case counts within the U.S. military are flattening and, at many U.S. bases, numbers are falling, according to USFJ.

“The stringent COVID-19 mitigations implemented in December have effectively stalled the spread of the virus on U.S. installations,” said Friday’s statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the COVID situation in Japan:

The U.S. and Japan on Sunday agreed to keep American troops within their bases as worries grew about a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the country. 

The restrictions starting Monday will last 14 days, confining U.S. military personnel to base facilities except for “essential activities,” a statement from the U.S. Forces in Japan said. The Japanese Foreign Ministry released the same statement. 

The allies will share information and cooperate on coronavirus measures, “given the extraordinary virulence of the omicron variant spreading throughout Japan,” the statement said. 

U.S. military members will wear masks, both on and off base, when outside their homes, and will continue to carry out strict testing before leaving for and after arrival in Japan, it said. 

New COVID-19 cases have surged in Japan, jumping above 8,000 on Saturday, a four-month record. The spike has been most pronounced in areas near U.S. bases. Last week, Japan asked the U.S. for cooperation in keeping its military personnel on base.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

USFJ is trying to mitigate the repetitional damage done to the command with the Japanese public with these new changes:

U.S. Forces Japan re-imposed a testing requirement for personnel heading to Japan on Thursday after the country’s foreign minister admonished the U.S. military for breaching its border protection measures. 

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed “deep regret” to USFJ commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp that a unit of Marines was not tested for COVID-19 before it arrived on Okinawa aboard a U.S. government flight. The newly arrived Marines were quarantined at Camp Hansen but permitted base access for five days before being tested, Hayashi said at a Wednesday news conference in Tokyo. 

Marine Corps Installations Pacific on Dec. 17 said “multiple” Marines in the group had tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease. By Thursday, that cluster had grown to 227, up from 180 on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference that morning.

Matsuno said he would continue to push the U.S. military to “take more thorough measures” to prevent the virus from spreading and hopefully ease locals’ concerns.

USFJ said the Hansen cases have prompted changes, according to a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes by spokeswoman Yukiko Date.

“In light of the current omicron variant, the COVID-19 positive cases at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, and to ensure the health and safety of all SOFA members and the citizens of Japan, USFJ has updated our COVID Health Protection Guidance to require pre-arrival testing for all SOFA members within 72 hours of flights departing for Japan on all forms of transportation,” the statement said. 

USFJ acknowledged Hayashi’s complaint but said it followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Department and Indo-Pacific Command when it discontinued pre-departure testing in September.

The Okinawa Department of Public Health and Medical Care believed the U.S. military was testing its personnel before they boarded flights for Japan until it learned otherwise on Wednesday, a spokesman for the department said during an online press conference on Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.