Japan Retrieves Residential Site From US Military

ISTANBUL, June 30 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Japan said Tuesday it has retrieved housing and residential land previously controlled by the US military in Yokohama, in Kanagawa prefecture, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

The US Army returned the 43-hectare residential site in Japan's second-largest city based on an agreement the two countries signed in 2004, Tokyo's Defence Ministry said in a statement posted on 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 realised," 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 totalling 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.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU