Japan’s government said it has agreed to increase its financial support to $1.8 billion per year through 2026 to continue hosting tens of thousands of U.S. troops under a new five-year agreement starting in fiscal 2022. The previous agreement, signed in 2016, that covers the 54,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan expired in March 2021. The United States and Japan then signed a one-year extension in February amid the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations. Under the latest deal, Tokyo will pay 1.05 trillion yen ($9.2 billion) through 2026 to host American troops and their families—up 75 billion yen ($657 million) from the previous deal, Kyodo News reported. “Bilateral defense cooperation under Host Nation Support will contribute to the enhancement of readiness and resiliency of the Alliance, including by improving the interoperability of U.S. forces and the Self-Defense Forces of Japan,” Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a …