2 US Marine Corps, accused of rape at a US base in Okinawa, Japan, has once again angered local residents
Police said Thursday that two U.S. Marines in Okinawa, Japan are under investigation. A series of attacks that angered residents.
The United States has about 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mainly on the subtropical island of Nava, skiing to the east of Taiwan.
“In March, a U.S. Marine Corps, who was in her 20s, allegedly raped a Japanese woman at a U.S. military base and also suspected of hurting another woman,” a local police official said.
The official said the second Marine Corps (also in her 20s) allegedly raped a Japanese woman at a U.S. base in January.
Police forwarded the two cases to prosecutors.
U.S. Ambassador George Glass said Washington will work with Japanese authorities to investigate.
“We deeply value the trust and friendship we have built with our masters over the decades, and I am committed to doing everything possible to prevent actions from jeopardizing these bonds,” he said in a statement.
Last week, U.S. service members joined Japanese officials and residents in Okinawa for a joint night patrol along a downtown street with bars scattered.
Hiroaki Yamashiro/AFP via Getty Images
The Patrol – the first such joint operation since 1973 – followed other sexual assault cases involving American military personnel.
A 21-year-old Marine Corps was charged with rape in June last year, and just a few months later prosecutors charged a 25-year-old U.S. soldier allegedly assaulting a girl under the age of 16.
According to Japanese media reports, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said the latest case was “tragic” and said authorities would urge the U.S. military to prevent similar incidents.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the top spokesman for the Japanese government, declined to comment on the case in a regular briefing on Thursday, but said U.S. military crimes were “unacceptable.”
Japanese media quoted police sources as saying that the alleged rape occurred in the bathroom in March and the injured woman tried to stop the attack on another woman.
Relations between Okinawans and American bases have long been in trouble.
Police said last year, 80 people with the U.S. military were charged with various crimes in Okinawa.
Three American soldiers in Okinawa raped a gang of 12-year-old girl in 1995, causing a serious backlash – demanding a rethinking of the 1960 agreement that would allow the United States to send troops in Japan.
