Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

JAPAN–U.S. STATUS-OF-FORCES AGREEMENT • 137
standing that it was the age of transnational cooperation in semiconductor
industry, Japan proposed to build a new high degree of international
division of labor based on measures to protect environment and
security, standardization, and improvement of access to third-nation
markets. With support from U.S. semiconductor makers, a new framework
of U.S.–Japan semiconductor cooperation along with the Japanese
proposal was passed on to the World Semiconductor Council that
was held three times after the second Japan–U.S. Semiconductor
Agreement expired. See also U.S.–JAPAN TRADE CONFLICTS.
JAPAN–U.S. SPECIAL PROCUREMENT NEGOTIATIONS.
Japan and the United States negotiated an agreement on special procurement
contracts in the 1950s after the outbreak of the Korean War.
The dollar value of procurement contracts spiked in 1952, and then
decreased by 3 percent, 23 percent, and 5 percent in 1953, 1954, and
1955, respectively, in comparison with the previous year. In 1956,
this decreasing trend finally came to an end with an increase of about
8 percent compared to the previous year. An increase in domestic
consumption and a substantial expansion of exports contributed to
this increase.
JAPAN–U.S. STATUS-OF-FORCES AGREEMENT (SOFA). The
Japan–U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement, which took effect in June
1960, details the legal status of U.S. military forces stationed in
Japan. As the agreement was ratified by Japan’s Diet and the U.S.
Congress, it has the status of a formal treaty. The agreement consists
of 28 clauses and various official exchanges of notes and consented
proceedings approved by the United States and Japan that pertain to
operation of the agreement.
The SOFA originally stipulated that Japan would provide the
United States with military bases that were to be maintained at U.S.
expense. However, in 1978, Japan began to assume responsibility for
costs pertaining to use of Japanese labor, housing and other facilities
for American forces and their families, utilities, and training relocation.
Because these costs have no legal basis, they are sometimes referred
to as “sympathy budget” allocations by Japan’s government.
The amount allocated to cover these costs tended to experience annual
increases, but the deterioration in Japan’s government finances