Protesters are once again questioning the value of American military bases on Okinawa, Japan because of crimes against Japanese citizens perpetrated by United States servicemen.
Ongoing Issue
Japan TV’s NHK Newsline (aka NHK World), has broadcast for several days in a row that the Japanese are outraged. According to NHK, that’s because in April an American former Marine, now a civilian worker on a US air base on Okinawa, was arrested for brutally murdering a Japanese woman. It reported, “residents have long complained about about crimes committed by base personnel”. A video clip showed protesters carrying signs reading “Close all bases”.
NHK said, in 1995, three US service men gang raped a local Japanese schoolgirl sparking massive protests against US military bases. That led to the agreement between Japan and United States to relocate one of its bases. As recently as “March of this year”, NHK added, “a U.S. Navy sailor was arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a Japanese woman.”
The NY Times newspaper covered a similar story in 1983.
Quick Reactions
NHK’s news anchor remarked about the murder, “the incident could be a serious obstacle for the ongoing negotiations over where to relocate the Futenma base.” Okinawa’s Governor Onaga declared he does not want the base to remain in his prefecture and called for other drastic changes. The governor stated that he also told the Prime Minister, “Japan’s independence is only a myth under the Status of Forces Agreement” (aka as SOFA).
US Ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, was quickly summoned by the Japanese government so its Foreign Minister could lodge a formal protest. Prime Minister Abe was said to be infuriated and intended to address the matter with American President Obama at the two day G7 summit beginning Thursday, the 26th of May, in Japan.
The meeting between the two heads of state occurred the day before the actual summit. A Japan Times newspaper article, dated May 25, 2016, covered it.
Photo credit: Agustin Rafael Reyes; License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
