THIS IS WEIRD!
Japan to propose loan for relocation
The Associated Press and Pacific Daily News
TOKYO -- Japan will propose lending money to the United States to speed up the planned relocation of 7,000 Marines out of the country, according to a newspaper report yesterday.
Japan is eager for the troops to leave Okinawa to reduce simmering tensions with local residents, but the United States has said a plan to move the troops to Guam would take decades unless Tokyo picks up much of the $7.6 billion price tag.
Such spending would be unprecedented and require parliamentary approval.
The move to Guam is part of the Pentagon's troop realignment plans in the region. The United States wanted Japan to pay for a quick move outright, but the idea for a loan arrangement emerged in a bid to gain public support, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.
If U.S. funds alone are relied on, the transfer could drag on for 20 years, according to a previous AP report.
Japanese officials are uncertain whether Washington would accept Japan's loan proposal, the Nihon Keizai said. Defense officials were not available for comment Sunday.
The two sides in October agreed on a plan that would give Tokyo greater responsibility for security in the Asia-Pacific and are currently trying to finalize the details.
Japan hosts 50,000 U.S. troops, including 14,460 Marines, the largest Marine contingent based overseas. Nearly all the Marines here are located on Okinawa, where residents have expressed a strong desire for a rapid reduction in U.S. forces because of long-standing concerns about crime, safety and environmental problems posed by their presence.
The U.S. military realignment also involves a relocation of a heliport in Okinawa to another base on the southern island, and the assignment of a nuclear-powered carrier to Japan for the first time.
American troops have been stationed in Japan since the end of World War II in 1945.
Construction, real estate boom expected
News of the planned move has been welcomed by some elected officials and those in the business sector because of the anticipated boost in construction and spending on Guam.
The military comprises about 30 percent of the economy, Pacific Daily News files state, with tourism grabbing the rest.
Last week, Japan newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported a total of 17,000 people -- including Marines and their families -- would be moving to Guam. That figure is a little more than 10 percent of Guam's current population.
Outside contractors and workers needed to build facilities for the move would double the annual construction activity on Guam to $800 million, an earlier report from The Associated Press stated, based on a Marine Corps $5.6 billion estimate.
It's especially been healthy for the real estate industry, according to real estate consulting firm The Captain Company.
Siska Hutapea, chief appraiser for real estate consulting firm The Captain Company, last week said the residential sector is already on the move in anticipation of the Marines' arrival.
The single-family home median price on Guam is about $155,000 -- the highest level in six years, she stated. The company noted growth in other real-estate sectors as well.
Hutapea said residential land prices, particularly in Tamuning, have shot up. There are also a number of planned subdivisions as well, she said.
She noted a property bought in 2004 for $515,000 was sold in December for $2.5 million. Oceanfront condominiums are also becoming commodities.
"There was a unit sold last month for $1.25 million, which is unheard of," Hutapea said.
She said if she were a homeowner, she'd sell the property because prices may have peaked by now, and the instability of the economy, with too many unknown factors like natural disasters, makes it a gamble to hold on to a property for too long.
Originally published February 20, 2006
Been there myself and, Dangler, you are a master of understatement...
