Japan retrieves residential site from US military

Japan said Tuesday it has retrieved housing and residential land previously controlled by the US military in Yokohama, in Kanagawa prefecture.

The US Army returned the 43-hectare (106-acre) residential site in Japan’s second-largest city based on an agreement the two countries signed in 2004, Tokyo’s Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on US social media platform X.

A ceremony to “commemorate” the return will be held in September, the ministry added.

“We are very glad that our long-held desire was realized,” Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka said.

Yamanaka asked the ministry to ensure an early return of the remaining site under the agreement.

In 2004, Tokyo and Washington agreed that the US military would give back to Japan sites in Kanagawa totaling 419 hectares, including the Negishi site, in return for Japan building some 700 houses in the Yokohama area for the American military’s Ikego residential site.