US military personnel stationed on Okinawa, Japan, have been placed under a 48-hour alcohol ban and will face a 30-day curfew after a US Marine was arrested over the alleged murder of a Japanese woman.
The restrictions were announced on Wednesday as the case sparked renewed anger in Japan over crimes involving American military personnel and the continued presence of US forces in the country, news agency AFP reported.
Police said on Sunday that a US Marine stationed on Okinawa had been arrested on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and taking her wallet. Local media reported that the woman was choked to death. The Marine has denied the allegations.
Okinawa Governor Genta Koja raised the issue with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, saying there was an "urgent need to reduce base-related burdens" on the island.
{{/usCountry}}Okinawa Governor Genta Koja raised the issue with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, saying there was an "urgent need to reduce base-related burdens" on the island.
{{/usCountry}}"The robbery-murder this time hugely shocked local residents," he said, while asking for a committee to be convened quickly to discuss the matter.
US forces halt operations for 48 hours
Benjamin T. Watson, Okinawa area coordinator and commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force, announced a "complete prohibition of alcohol consumption on or off base" starting Wednesday.
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Watson described the 48-hour restriction as "an operational pause". He said the period would allow commanders to conduct training with all service members on "standards, discipline, and our responsibilities as members of the Okinawan community".
Operations will stop during the pause and "we will not allow off-base liberty", Watson said in a statement posted on X late Tuesday.
30-day curfew for US personnel
Watson, the most senior US military figure on Okinawa, also announced a 30-day "period of reflection" beginning Friday.
"During this period, we will implement a curfew in which liberty will expire at 2400 for all hands, meaning you must be back on base in your assigned quarters or at your off-base domicile from midnight to 0500".
The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, with most of them based on Okinawa.
Governor raises 'deep anxiety' over murder case
Koja, who won the gubernatorial election last month, also met Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday. He said the case had "caused deep anxiety" among Okinawa residents.
"The prefectural government has repeatedly demanded that the US military take measures to prevent a recurrence every time an incident occurs, but the fact that such an incident has happened again forces us to conclude that discipline within the US forces and their human rights education are not functioning at all," he told Koizumi.
Koizumi said he would "advance discussions with the United States on how to implement effective measures" to prevent similar incidents.
Koja is the first Okinawa leader in 12 years who approved a contentious US military base relocation plan. Under the central government's proposal, the US Marine Corps' Futenma air base would remain on Okinawa's main island but be moved to a less populated location.
Past crimes involving US personnel
Crimes involving US personnel have been a longstanding source of tension between the two close security allies.
Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a US Marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.
In 2017, a former US 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, US Forces Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after an intoxicated US Marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing its 61-year-old local driver.(With input from AFP)