USFJ oversees U.S. military personnel, assets, and installations in Japan, including approximately 55,000 active-duty servicemembers and 15 major bases.

[3] After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in Asia, the United States Armed Forces assumed administrative authority in Japan.

[9] The relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko Bay was resolved in December 2013 with the signing of a landfill agreement by the governor of Okinawa.

[11] Certain parcels of land on Okinawa which were leased for use by the American military were supposed to be turned back to Japanese control via a long-term phased return process according to the agreement.

In March 2024, media reporting suggested that the organizational remit and status of USFJ would be changed--possibly including the creation of a new joint task force as well as the elevation of the USFJ commander's rank--as part of a broader 'upgrading' of the U.S.-Japan alliance to be announced during the April 2024 visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the United States.

[18] As part of that visit, Prime Minister Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden stated the following in a Joint Leaders' Statement: Recognizing the speed at which regional security challenges evolve and to ensure our bilateral Alliance structures meet these critical changes, we announce our intention to bilaterally upgrade our respective command and control frameworks to enable seamless integration of operations and capabilities and allow for greater interoperability and planning between U.S. and Japanese forces in peacetime and during contingencies.

More effective U.S.-Japan Alliance command and control will strengthen deterrence and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of pressing regional security challenges.

According to one DOD official, this will result in USFJ transitioning from a primarily "administrative command" into an organization with more operational and warfighting responsibilities.

[30] There is also debate over the Status of Forces Agreement since it covers a variety of administrative technicalities blending the systems which control how certain situations are handled between the U.S.'s and Japan's legal framework.

[33][34][35] The 2014 poll by Ryūkyū Shimpō found that 80% of surveyed Okinawans want the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma moved out of the prefecture.

[39] The Japanese government organised the enslavement of 55,000 women to work providing sexual services to U.S. military personnel before the surrender.

[43] In more recent history, "crimes ranging from rape to assault and hit-and-run accidents by U.S. military personnel, dependents and civilians have long sparked protests in the prefecture," stated The Japan Times.

[44] "A series of horrific crimes by present and former U.S. military personnel stationed on Okinawa has triggered dramatic moves to try to reduce the American presence on the island and in Japan as a whole," commented The Daily Beast in 2009.

[52] In 2013, Seaman Christopher Browning and Petty Officer 3rd Class Skyler Dozierwalker were found guilty by the Naha District Court of raping and robbing a woman in a parking lot in October.

Many offenders who have committed sexual assaults and murders have also escaped trials sometimes through transfer, release or honorary discharges when they are in barracks, which is one of the reasons for antipathy from the victims and other local citizens along with the Japanese government's indecision.

[58][59] In October 2012, twelve MV-22 Ospreys were transferred to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to replace aging Vietnam-era Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters.

Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto explained that the Osprey aircraft is safe, adding that two recent accidents were "caused by human factors".

[65][66][67] In particular, lingering environmental concerns over the disruption or destruction of coastal and marine habitats off the shores of Okinawa from construction, relocation and operation of U.S. military bases on Okinawa, has resulted in the protracted and continuing delayal of plans to relocate military facilities, such as Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

[68] This drew the attention of local, national and international environmental action groups, who raised concerns that land reclamation projects tied to the construction of an offshore airbase in Henoko Bay would result in the destruction of nearby dugong habitats and coastal ecosystems.

[69] Despite this, plans were set forth to continue ahead with the relocation of the base, notably, flouting the results of a 1997 referendum where the majority voted to reject a replacement facility.

[68] In opposition to this, in September 2003, a group of Okinawan, Japanese and U.S. environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Federal Court to protest the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

[70] In June 2020, following the announcement of an earlier leak of firefighting foam from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in April 2020, a water quality study conducted by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment published findings of elevated contamination levels of PFOS and PFOA at 37 different water sources near U.S. military bases and industrial areas which exceeded provisional national targets.

[71] Further incidents concerning the release of the cancer-inducing toxins also occurred in August 2021, further worsening tensions over the presence of 'alarming' levels of these toxic chemicals.

[72][73] Subsequent tests around Kadena Air Base, specifically the training site 50 meters west of Dakujaku River, confirmed severe contamination in the water system with PFAS chemicals.