Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Aaron Snipe, deputy chief of mission at U.S. Embassy Tokyo, help mark the return of the U.S. Navy’s Negishi housing area during a ceremony at Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Yokohama, Japan, Sept. 2, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOHAMA, Japan — American and Japanese officials this week marked the end of a nearly 80-year U.S. military presence as a former Navy housing complex prepares for a major redevelopment.
About 200 government officials and other guests gathered Wednesday at Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers to commemorate the return of the 106-acre Naval Housing Annex Negishi to Japan.
The property, which spans Yokohama’s Naka, Minami and Isogo wards, housed Navy personnel and their families between 1947 and 2015. Japan formally took back the land on June 30, clearing the way for a long-planned redevelopment led by the city.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Aaron Snipe, deputy chief of mission at U.S. Embassy Tokyo, attended the ceremony.
Snipe described the return as “a significant moment” for the U.S.-Japan alliance and Yokohama.
“Over the many, many years, we have fulfilled our promise; we have delivered to the people and the communities that we serve,” he said. “The success of this project is truly a testament to the enduring strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance, and also to the mutual trust and respect that underpin it.”
Negishi is one of six properties in the Yokohama area, totaling about 1,035 acres, that the United States agreed in 2004 to return to Japan.
As part of the arrangement, Japan pledged to build 700 housing units at the Navy’s Ikego Hills Family Housing Area near Yokosuka Naval Base.
At its peak, Negishi housed as many as 2,000 people in about 400 homes. The units have been vacant since the final residents moved out in 2015.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi helps mark the return of the U.S. Navy’s Negishi housing area at Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Yokohama, Japan, Sept. 2, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
“This return, underpinned by the Japan-U.S. alliance, holds profound importance as it steadily advances the realignment of facilities and areas of the United States forces while maintaining necessary deterrence,” Koizumi said.
“It also enables community development that will contribute to the future of the region through the large-scale return of land,” he added.
The Negishi return is also connected to the Facilities Adjustment Panel-Kanagawa program, a roughly $500 million initiative under which Japan is helping the Navy build 13 facilities elsewhere in Kanagawa prefecture.
Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa and Yokohama Deputy Mayor Kazuhiro Suzuki also attended the ceremony and welcomed the return and planned redevelopment.
“This return also marked a beginning for a new urban development project in this district,” Suzuki said.
The city will carefully consider the opinions of landowners and residents to “fully realize the potential of [Negishi] and promote the new project,” he added.
The city has not yet finalized the redevelopment plan.
“I very much look forward to seeing how the beautiful neighborhood of Negishi evolves in the years ahead,” Snipe said.