Japan, US patrol Okinawa streets after sexual assaults

OKINAWA, Japan: US soldiers joined Japanese officials and residents in Okinawa for a one-off joint nighttime patrol on Friday following sexual assault cases involving American servicemen.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa, and their behaviour has long angered locals. A 21-year-old US Marine was charged with rape in June last year, three months after Okinawa prosecutors had charged a 25-year-old US soldier for allegedly assaulting a girl under 16.

In the first such joint operation since 1973, participants walked along a downtown street dotted with restaurants, bars and music clubs in the vicinity of a US airbase on Friday night. The US military, which proposed the patrol, said in a statement it reflects “our continued commitment to partnership, accountability and mutual respect”.

It will contribute “to the safety and trust that are essential to the strength of the US-Japan alliance”, said Roger Turner, commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force and Okinawa Area Coordinator. The patrol is scheduled to continue until the early hours of the morning.

Rules about how to treat crimes committed by US military personnel are stipulated in the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said when he took office in October that he wanted to review the rules.

The 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US soldiers in Okinawa prompted a major backlash -- with calls for a rethink of the 1960 pact allowing the United States to station soldiers in Japan.