Tokyo – The Japanese government protested Friday at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo over at least two cases of sexual assault involving U.S. service members on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa that only recently became public.
In one case a Air Force member accused in March of assaulting a teenage girl in Decemberwhile the other case, dating back to May, involves a Marine accused of assaulting a 21-year-old woman.
The case surrounding the teen’s assault reminds many Okinawans of the high-profile 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. soldiers, which sparked mass protests against the large presence of U.S. troops on Okinawa. It led to an agreement between Tokyo and Washington in 1996 to close a key US air station, although the plan has been postponed due to protests at the site earmarked for relocation to another part of the island.
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About 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Japan under a bilateral security treaty, about half of them on Okinawa, whose strategic role is seen as increasingly important to the U.S.-Japanese military alliance amid growing tensions with China. The southwestward shift of the Japanese military also focuses heavily on Okinawa and nearby islands.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Friday it was “extremely regrettable” that the two alleged sexual assaults occurred within a few months. Japan “takes it seriously” and Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano expressed his regrets to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, and asked for disciplinary and preventive measures, Hayashi said.
“I believe the American side is also taking this matter seriously,” Hayashi said. “Criminal cases and accidents by US military personnel cause great fear among locals, and they should never have happened in the first place.”
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo declined to confirm details of the meeting between Emanuel and Okano or how the ambassador responded, citing diplomatic rules.
Hayashi said Japanese prosecutors in Okinawa’s capital Naha filed charges of non-consensual sex and sexual assault against the Marine on June 17, which were only announced on Friday. Both suspects were treated by Japanese authorities.
A spokesperson for the Okinawa police told Agence France-Presse that the Marine is accused of “assaulting the victim for the purpose of sexual intercourse and injuring her.” He added that “the fact that he used force for that purpose and injured her amounts to non-consensual sex resulting in injury.”
The woman was “bitten in the mouth” and it took two weeks for her to fully recover, he said. Media reports also said she was strangled.
The two cases have sparked outrage and are reminiscent of Japan’s fraught history with U.S. forces, including the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. soldiers in 1995.
The Naha District Prosecutor’s Office declined to confirm charges in the two cases over the phone with anyone who is not a member of a local press club. Okinawa Prefectural Police said the two cases were never made public out of consideration for the privacy of the victims.
Okinawan residents and the island’s governor, Denny Tamaki, have long complained about accidents and crime at U.S. military bases, expressing anger over perceived criminality and lack of transparency.
Tamaki, who opposes the large presence of U.S. troops on Okinawa, said he was “speechless and outraged.” He emphasized the need to “reconstruct” the communications system in case of crimes and accidents involving US military personnel.
“I am deeply concerned about the seriousness of this allegation and regret the fear it has caused,” said Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, who visited the Okinawa Prefectural government along with several U.S. officials, though he did not apologize.
He promised that the US military will fully cooperate with the investigation by local authorities and the courts.
Okinawa Vice Governor Takekuni Ikeda told Evans and other officials that the alleged attacks were serious human rights violations against women. “We find them absolutely inexcusable and we are outraged,” he said.
Ikeda also protested the delayed notification of the criminal cases, saying they were causing unrest among residents of the US bases. He said the prefecture was only informed of the December case this week, when the suspect was charged in March, and only after an investigation by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
