US Defence Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan Friday to maintain its support for the US military in Japan at current levels of about five billion dollars a year as a sign of commitment to the alliance.
Gates said he stressed "the importance of rolling it over and keeping it level" in each of his meetings in Japan.
"This alliance provides many benefits for both sides but it provides very significant benefits for Japan," he said.
"I told them it wasn't just the money but the symbolism that it represented in terms of the health of the alliance," he said.
Gates made the remarks to reporters as he flew back to Washington at the end of a week-long trip to China, South Korea and Japan.
Japan has proposed reducing the level it spends annually to share the cost of basing some 37,000 US troops in the country.
Japan, officially pacifist since the end of World War II, relies on the United States for much of its security needs.
