The United States considered scaling down its military bases in Japan due to difficulties in deploying nuclear weapons here in 1962, but scrapped the idea because of fears of a nuclear war with its communist enemies, declassified U.S. government documents showed Thursday.
According to the documents, held at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and the National Archives in Washington, the U.S. decided against withdrawing its forces from Japan because the bases could "complicate the Soviet nuclear targeting problem" and were necessary for its nuclear war plan.
The documents were compiled two years after the Japan-U.S. security treaty was revised requiring the U.S. to consult with Japan in advance on major changes in its deployment of forces, equipment and use of facilities in consideration of Japan's sensitivity to nuclear weapons.