February 27, 2025
Even after the U.S. Forces Japan in October 2024 began banning all troops from off-base drinking between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. as a “prevention measure”, the number of accidents and incidents committed by U.S. military personnel in Okinawa reached 43.
This came to light in the government’s reply to a question made by Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 26.
The breakdown of 43 cases: 18 criminal law offences; two traffic accidents causing injury and/or death; 20 traffic violations; and three special law violations, according to the National Public Safety Commission,
Akamine described the U.S. forces’ measures as ineffective in preventing the occurrence of accidents and incidents involving U.S. servicemen, and demanded a drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in reply said defensively, “Since the SOFA and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty are closely related to each other, it is difficult to hold discussions on a SOFA revision.”
Akamine said that PM Ishiba, at a street speech held in Okinawa during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election campaign, expressed his intent to push for a SOFA amendment, but now claims that this is hard to achieve because the SOFA and the security treaty are linked together. “This is a betrayal of Okinawans,” Akamine added.
He pointed out that U.S. servicemen continue committing crimes as the U.S. military in Japan is privileged under the SOFA’s unfair discriminatory provisions, such as Article 17 stipulating that U.S. military-related people, even after committing crimes, are not detained by Japanese police before prosecution.
This came to light in the government’s reply to a question made by Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 26.
The breakdown of 43 cases: 18 criminal law offences; two traffic accidents causing injury and/or death; 20 traffic violations; and three special law violations, according to the National Public Safety Commission,
Akamine described the U.S. forces’ measures as ineffective in preventing the occurrence of accidents and incidents involving U.S. servicemen, and demanded a drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in reply said defensively, “Since the SOFA and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty are closely related to each other, it is difficult to hold discussions on a SOFA revision.”
Akamine said that PM Ishiba, at a street speech held in Okinawa during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election campaign, expressed his intent to push for a SOFA amendment, but now claims that this is hard to achieve because the SOFA and the security treaty are linked together. “This is a betrayal of Okinawans,” Akamine added.
He pointed out that U.S. servicemen continue committing crimes as the U.S. military in Japan is privileged under the SOFA’s unfair discriminatory provisions, such as Article 17 stipulating that U.S. military-related people, even after committing crimes, are not detained by Japanese police before prosecution.
