How Many Marines Do We Still Need In Japan?

Solving the Okinawa Problem -- Mike Mochizuki and Michael O'Hanlon, Foreign Policy

How many Marines do we still need in Japan?

In recent weeks the U.S. Marine Corps has begun to deploy the V-22 Osprey to Okinawa, Japan. The Osprey flies like a propeller plane but can take off and land like a helicopter, providing more speed than the latter but more tactical flexibility than the former. It has also reignited the long-standing debate between Japan and the United States over the future of the Marines' presence on Okinawa. Critics have called the airplane unsafe and demanded its redeployment back to the United States. While flight data do not confirm this specific allegation, policymakers in Tokyo and Washington do need to realize they have an even bigger problem -- and search for a new, less intrusive way of basing Marines on this small island at the southern end of the Japanese archipelago.

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My Comment: If it was not for China rising, and territorial disputes escalating .... the issue of U.S. troops will be moot .... there will only be a small and insignificant U.S. presence. But .... global economics/wealth/and future development will be focused primarily in Asia in the next few decades. A U.S. presence is all but certain .... especially when much of our future economic well being is now becoming dependent on stability and co-existence in this part of the world. My prediction .... the U.S. military presence will stay the same, but there will be greater US Navy activity in the surrounding waters.