February 15, 2017

The number of mishaps and crimes caused by U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan between 1952 and 2016 totals more than 210,000, and nearly 1,100 Japanese people were killed in them, Akahata reported on February 15.

This was revealed in the materials which the Defense Ministry provided in response to an inquiry by Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken.

According to the materials obtained, the number of incidents and crimes committed by U.S. military personnel in Japan totaled 210,750 and 1,092 Japanese citizens were killed between 1952, when the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty took effect, and 2016. In 2016 alone, 293 incidents and crimes took place in the country, including the case of a 20-year-old Japanese woman who was brutally raped and murdered by an ex-U.S. marine in Okinawa.

The actual number of U.S. military-related crimes is thought to greatly surpass this number because the data does not count incidents which took place while Japan was occupied by the U.S. military following the end of World War II and while Okinawa was placed under the U.S. control until 1972.

Past related article:
> At least 1,600 Japanese killed in US military-related incidents after the war [May 27, 2016]