U.S. Embassy In Japan – Paying The Rent

I’ve read several comments from people, not just Americans, about how the U.S. shouldn’t have to pay rent for the embassy since Japan would not likely exist in its current state without America’s efforts during the occupation and rebuilding efforts post WWII. Indeed, the country could’ve easily been divided up with the Russians.

Whatever…

Whether one agrees with the above sentiment or not, any country deserves enough respect to have the use of its land properly paid for. Otherwise, there is an image that the uncompensated country is playing slave to the other.

Good news, though. America is finally paying the rent. Here’s the latest from the Mainichi Shinbun regarding the issue.

U.S. Embassy finally coughs up … after 10 years of rent-free

prime land

The United States Embassy in Japan has agreed to pay rent on its prime central Tokyo property for the first time in a decade, U.S. officials said.

Citing documents over 100 years old, the U.S. had refused since 1998 to pay the rent on its property in Minato-ku.

The U.S. rents properties for its embassies in Britain, Spain and Mexico, but had never refused to pay before the way it did in Japan.

With the statute of limitations for demanding payment of the rent drawing close, however, the government and its U.S. counterpart agreed to clear up the problem.

Finance Ministry officials said that it had adjusted rents twice in accordance with increased land values and charged the U.S. 2.52 million yen per year for the roughly 13,000 square meter property on which its embassy is located.

When the ministry proposed a rent increase in 1998, the U.S. balked, saying that an 1896 lease contract between the countries did not take into account increases in rent on the embassy property and refused to pay.

Under an agreement made between Tokyo and Washington to clear up the problem, the U.S. will pay 7 million yen a year for the period from 1998 to 2007 and 10 million yen a year for the time frame 2008 to 2012, then 15 million yen annually from 2013 to 2027. The U.S. government on Monday paid 70 million yen to the ministry to cover the 10 years’ rent it had been delinquent on, though it did not pay interest.

Click here for the original Japanese story

（Mainichi Japan） December 11, 2007