Ambassador to Japan says U.S. troops crucial to area's stability

TOKYO — U.S. Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer said Japanese who contend they bear a heavy burden by hosting U.S. troops have a right to object but the presence is a small price to pay for the security and economic success it has afforded the country.

“During the last 60 years Japan has been at peace. The world has been spared another world war. A large part of the reason for that success is the presence of American troops here in Japan,” he said.

“The presence of our forces in Japan is sometimes seen as a burden to Japanese. That is understandable,” he said. “The presence of a foreign military anywhere in the world is no one’s first choice.

“But the fact that American forces have been here gave Japan the opportunity it needed to build the second-largest economy in the world,” he said.

“Those who oppose our forces being here make their arguments. We should ask two simple questions: If American forces were not here, would...