ABSTRACT
A rarely mentioned but direct benefit of the US-Japanese security relationship for Japan is the long-term protection of the sea routes that extend between Japan and North and South America and between Japan and the Suez Canal and the Middle East. In fact, all of the Asian and Pacific countries and territories have benefited from the vast security system created and maintained by the United States from World War II until the present. The other functions to defend the security of North American territories in the eastern Pacific. The Middle East also supplies liquefied natural gas in great quantities to India and Japan. Again, coal from North America, Australia, and South Africa moves along the various sea routes to supply Japan's needs. Military procurement includes the direct costs of developing, producing, and buying equipment, weapons and materials, and their replacement over cycles of ten, twenty, and thirty years.
