Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has lodged a protest with the United States after a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman in Okinawa.
Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture, on Saturday, according to Japanese police. Authorities said Ballard allegedly took Yagi’s wallet and backpack.
Police said Ballard denied the allegations.
“The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and vicious incident is extremely regrettable,” Takaichi said in a statement.
She said the Japanese government had strongly protested to the US and called for maximum cooperation with the investigation, tighter discipline among US personnel and measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
US says it is cooperating with investigation
The US embassy in Japan and the US Marine Corps expressed condolences over the incident and said they were cooperating with Japanese authorities.
The Marine Corps said Ballard was in Japanese custody and was assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa.
“The Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behaviour,” the force said in a statement.
The arrest comes against a backdrop of longstanding tensions surrounding the presence of US military forces in Okinawa.
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US military presence remains contentious
Most of the roughly 18,000 US Marines stationed in Japan are based in Okinawa. The United States administered the island after World War II until 1972, when sovereignty was returned to Japan.
The continued US military presence has been a source of resentment among some Okinawa residents, with complaints including aircraft noise, accidents and incidents involving military personnel.
In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three US servicemen triggered large protests and intensified calls for a reduction in the US military presence on the island.
The latest incident could further complicate efforts to relocate some Marines from the crowded Futenma air station to a less densely populated facility at Henoko.
Opponents of the relocation plan have called for US troops to be moved out of Okinawa altogether.
Okinawa’s strategic importance
Okinawa is also strategically important to Japan and the United States because of its location around 100 kilometres from Taiwan at its closest point.
Tokyo and Washington regard the island as an important part of their regional security strategy and a key location for deterring potential military action by China.
The latest arrest is therefore likely to draw renewed attention to both the conduct of US service members in Okinawa and the broader debate over the US military presence there.
