Gov't to review U.S. military-related expenses, foreign aid

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TOKYO, Nov. 9 Kyodo -
The Japanese government decided Monday to review state expenses related to U.S.
forces in Japan, official development assistance, and some other outlays
earmarked for a fiscal 2010 state budget as part of its efforts to curtail
wasteful use of taxpayers' money.
By reviewing some of the public works projects in the fiscal 2010 budget, the
government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will aim to trim the size of the
budget by 3 trillion yen or more from record-high budgetary requests exceeding
95 trillion yen.
A list of the projects subject to the revision was unveiled following a meeting
Monday of the Government Revitalization Unit, a new body set up by the
Democratic Party of Japan-led government seeking to cut back on unnecessary
public works projects and economic measures to rein in wasteful spending.
''We will review them and leave no protected areas,'' Hatoyama, who heads the
unit, told the meeting, which other Cabinet members such as Finance Minister
Hirohisa Fujii and Naoto Kan, in charge of national strategy, also attended.
Calling the review ''a highlight of the new administration,'' Hatoyama told
reporters prior to the meeting, ''The work is to determine if each of the
projects is truly necessary, can be passed on to the following year, or should
be handled by the private sector. I think it is quite a new attempt.''
Among other expenses to be reviewed are health care expenses, local allocation
taxes, and expenses for compulsory education.
Yoshito Sengoku, minister in charge of administrative reform and deputy chief
of the unit, told the meeting that the review would also help shed light on the
problems of the organizations overseeing the projects and the systems behind
them.
Specifically, members of the unit and government officials will sort out,
starting on Wednesday, the projects into four categories -- ''unnecessary,''
''should be transferred to local municipalities,'' ''should be improved'' and
''should be continued.''
As for U.S. military-related expenses, the government will reexamine wages for
Japanese employees working at U.S. bases in Japan.
Hatoyama said to reporters that the review must be done without affecting the
Japan-U.S. relationship, which appears to be fraying amid a row over where to
relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
Under the agreements with Washington, Tokyo covers part of the expenses for
U.S. troops staying in Japan, such as construction of their residences and
utility costs, and pays the salaries of employees working at U.S. bases in
Japan in the name of host nation support.
The unit is seeking to complete the review by late November, but Hideki Kato,
the unit's secretariat head, indicated a view at a press conference Monday that
the work may be pushed back until early next month.
The government is aiming to complete formulating the budget for the new fiscal
year from April 2010 by the end of this year based on the results of the unit.
It has been behind compared with usual years due to the recent change of
government.
==Kyodo