Second U.S. service member in months charged with rape in Japan’s Okinawa: “We are outraged”

Tokyo — Japan’s authorities protested Friday to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo over a minimum of two sexual assault circumstances involving American servicemembers on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa that had been solely lately made public.

In one case, an Air Force member is accused in March of assaulting a teenage lady in December, whereas the opposite, which dates from May, includes a Marine accused of assaulting a 21-year-old girl.

The case involving the assault of {the teenager} is a reminder to many Okinawans of the high-profile 1995 rape of a 12-year-old lady by three U.S. servicemembers, which sparked large protests towards the heavy U.S. troop presence on Okinawa. It led to a 1996 settlement between Tokyo and Washington on a closure of a key U.S. air station, although the plan has been delayed attributable to protests on the website designated for its relocation on one other a part of the island.

Some 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Japan underneath a bilateral safety pact, about half of them on Okinawa, whose strategic function is seen more and more necessary for the Japan-U.S. navy alliance within the face of rising tensions with China. Japan’s southwestern shift of its personal navy additionally focuses closely on Okinawa and its close by islands.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi advised reporters Friday it was “extraordinarily regrettable” the 2 alleged sexual assaults occurred inside months. Japan “takes it significantly” and Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano conveyed regrets to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, requesting disciplinary and preventive measures, Hayashi stated.

“I consider that the U.S. aspect additionally takes this matter significantly,” Hayashi stated. “Criminal circumstances and accidents by U.S. navy personnel trigger nice anxiousness to native residents, and they need to by no means happen within the first place.”

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo declined to substantiate particulars of the assembly between Emanuel and Okano and the way the ambassador responded, citing diplomatic guidelines.

Hayashi stated Japanese prosecutors in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, had pressed nonconsensual intercourse and assault expenses towards the Marine on June 17, which had been solely introduced Friday. Both suspects had been dealt with by the Japanese authorities.

An Okinawa police spokesperson advised Agence France-Presse the Marine is accused of “assaulting the sufferer for the aim of sexual activity and injuring her,” including that, “The proven fact that he used violence for that goal and wounded her constitutes non-consensual intercourse leading to harm.”

The girl was “bitten within the mouth” and took two weeks to totally recuperate, he stated. Media reviews stated she was additionally choked.

The two circumstances have sparked outrage and echo Japan’s fraught historical past with US troops, together with the 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old lady by three U.S. servicemen. 

The Naha District Prosecutors’ Office refused to substantiate indictments within the two circumstances over the telephone with anybody who will not be an area press membership member. Okinawa prefectural police stated the 2 circumstances had been by no means made public out of consideration for the privateness of the victims.

Okinawa residents and the island’s governor, Denny Tamaki, have lengthy complained about accidents and crime associated to U.S navy bases and expressed anger over the alleged crime and lack of disclosure.

Tamaki, who opposes the heavy U.S. troop presence on Okinawa, stated he was “speechless and outraged.” He burdened the necessity to “reconstruct” the communication system in case of crime and accidents involving American service members.

“I’m deeply involved concerning the severity of this allegation and I remorse the anxiousness this has prompted,” Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, Commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, who visited the Okinawa prefectural authorities with a number of U.S. officers, stated on Thursday, although he didn’t apologize.

He promised the US navy will absolutely cooperate with the investigation by the native authorities and the courts.

Okinawa Vice Gov. Takekuni Ikeda advised Evans and different officers that the alleged assaults had been severe human rights violations towards ladies. “We discover them completely unforgivable, and we’re outraged,” he stated.

Ikeda additionally protested the delayed notification of the prison circumstances, saying they prompted anxiousness for residents close to the U.S. bases. He stated the prefecture was solely notified this week concerning the December case, when the suspect was indicted in March, and solely after inquiries by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.