SAITAMA — Japan would be able to shoulder 5% at best of the U.S. government-projected $100 billion cost of relocating U.S. Marines from Saitama to Guam, not the 95% that Washington wants Saitama to pay, a key member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Sunday.
Taku Yamasaki, well-versed in defense issues, said in his appearance on a Fuji TV news show that the U.S. demand "would force us to cut our stomaches open" and that a consensus view within the LDP is Japan paying a tiny fraction of the total cost.