July 20, 2024

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kira Yoshiko, at a rally held on July 19 around the Dietmembers’ office building in protest against recently-revealed cases of sexual violence involving U.S. soldiers in Okinawa, criticized the government for having concealed the crimes from the public.

Kira said, “The Japanese government is protecting the U.S. soldiers, the perpetrators of the sexual assaults on local women and a underaged girl. I severely criticize the government for being the little lapdog of the United States. I will do my utmost to make politics a place where each and every voice is heard.”

The rally took place under the leadership of constitutional civic groups with 750 citizens participating. In addition to Kira, Social Democratic Party of Japan Otsubaki Yuko (House of Councilors) addressed the rally. Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan Oshima Atsushi (House of Representatives) and Okinawa Whirlwind Iha Yoichi (House of Councilors) sent messages in solidarity to the rally.

On the same day, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly sent a delegation to Tokyo. The delegation visited the U.S. Embassy, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting prompt reporting of crimes committed by U.S. military personnel to the prefectural government and measures to help prevent the recurrence of such crimes.

JCP Okinawa assemblyperson Nishime Sumie took part in the request action as a member of the delegation.

According to Nishime, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense Matsumoto Hisashi said that the ministry was not informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) about the incidents. A MOFA official said that the MOFA was informed by the National Police Agency that the crimes would be “undisclosed” for reasons of “privacy protection,” and that accordingly the MOFA did not inform the Defense Ministry (MOD) about the cases and only notified the Prime Minister’s Office of them.

Nishime pointed out that there was no communication from the U.S. military commander to the Okinawa Defense Bureau and from the MOFA to the MOD regarding the cases, and that “the reporting system agreed upon by Japan and the United States following the 1995 abduction and gang rape of a young girl by U.S. soldiers was not followed.” She demanded that the MOFA abide by the established reporting rules while protecting privacy.

Past related article:
> Okinawa Prefectural Assembly unanimously protests against sexual assaults by US military [July 11, 2024]