Japan and the United States have been holding negotiations over sharing of the cost to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. In the negotiations held in Washington earlier this month, the two parties could not overcome their differences. A followup round of negotiations held in Tokyo last week produced no results. Another round is planned this week. Even if they come to an agreement, however, the Japanese government must fully explain to the people the details of not only the final agreement but also of the negotiations leading up to it. The people need such detailed information because the amount of money Japan will pay for the relocation will not be small and because there are no legal foundations for such a payment -- even in the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty or the Status of Forces Agreement.

Japan and the U.S. have agreed on the relocation as a means of reducing the military burden on Okinawa, where, in terms of area, 75 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan are concentrated. The relocation is part of the U.S. plan to realign its military bases in Japan to reduce burdens on local communities and to enhance its capability to deal with military contingencies. The headquarters of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force and about 8,000 personnel -- although the final total is not known at this point -- will be moved to Guam, according to explanations by the Japanese and U.S. governments. If dependents are included, about 17,000 people will move to Guam. The relocation will help reduce the burden on Okinawa and, therefore, should be implemented as soon as possible.

A problem has cropped up, however. The U.S. estimates that the relocation will cost $10 billion (about 1.17 trillion yen) and has requested that Japan shoulder 75 percent of the cost. The request sounds extraordinary. Having a foreign host government pay for the cost of relocating a U.S. military facility and its personnel to U.S. territories is almost unheard of. In the case of relocation of U.S. forces from Germany to the U.S., the U.S. is reportedly shouldering the entire cost. At one point, it was reported that Washington's estimate for the Guam relocation plan was about $4 billion. It is only natural that the huge increase in the estimate to $10 billion should raise suspicions.