Okinawa Governor Urges Japan Action After U.S. Marine Arrested Over Killing
TOKYO (Dispatches) -The governor of Okinawa has demanded that Japan’s central government do more to ensure effective discipline among United States service members on the southern island following the arrest of a U.S. Marine on crime of robbing and murdering a local woman.
Governor Genta Koja, in Tokyo for the first time since taking office a week ago, conveyed on Wednesday Okinawa’s outrage in his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, asking her government for further efforts to reduce the burden of hosting U.S. military bases on the small island.
“Okinawa has requested preventive measures every time similar crimes were repeated in past, and now we have this case again,” Koja told Takaichi at the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday.
“I must say past disciplinary measures and human rights education implemented by the U.S. military have not worked at all,” Koja said.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Japanese protesters enraged by a woman's murder at the hands of a U.S. Marine rallied outside the U.S. embassy in Tokyo to protest "American soldiers' violence."
Protesters held placards reading "no more American soldiers' violence" and "Okinawa is not your amusement park!", and chanted:
People in Okinawa have long opposed the heavy U.S. military presence on the island and complained about noise, pollution and crime related to bases used by U.S. forces.
The U.S. military in Okinawa earlier announced a 48-hour pause of all military operations for training through Friday, as well as restrictions on the ability of troops to leave their base.
The presence of U.S. troops in Okinawa has repeatedly stirred resentment among residents over issues such as noise, aircraft crashes and the conduct of personnel.
Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine convicted of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.
In 2017, a former U.S. Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa.
The same year, U.S. Forces Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after an intoxicated U.S. Marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing its 61-year-old local driver.
*****People in Tokyo protest against the killing of a woman in Okinawa committed by a U.S. Marine Corps member, on October 5, 2026.