Japan and the United States have reached a broad agreement on joint civilian-military use of the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base, according to Japanese officials.
During talks on the realignment of its forces in Japan, the U.S. expressed intent to accept civilian use of the base as requested by Tokyo in exchange for enhanced cooperation between the U.S. Air Force and the Air Self-Defense Force, they said.
It is the first time the two nations have reached an accord on a specific step for the realignment, the officials said.