Japan Press Weekly

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2024 June 26 - July 2 TOP3 [US FORCES]

Okinawans strongly protest against Tokyo’s concealment of US soldier’s kidnapping and rape of underaged local girl

Anger and protests are growing in Okinawa following the recent news report that the national government for the past three months has not notified the prefectural government that a U.S. serviceman stationed at the U.S. Kadena Air Base was indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting an Okinawan girl.

Takasato Suzuyo of a women’s group for a base-free Okinawa said that it is totally unforgivable that Tokyo kept secret the indictment for a sexual offense by a U.S. soldier.

Takasato said that the U.S. military and the Kishida government have kept the prefectural government in the dark about the indictment for three months, probably with the aim of avoiding the negative impact on local sentiment toward U.S. bases in Okinawa. She added that they have a strong sense of discrimination against Okinawa and Okinawans.

She emphasized that in order to eradicate sex crimes involving U.S. military personnel, the need is to revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) as well as to remove all U.S. military facilities from Okinawa.

“When learning of the crime from news reports, I was absolutely furious,” said a local peace activist, Ueno Ikuko, who is a retired elementary school teacher.

Ueno said, “I guess that Tokyo has hidden inconvenient information due to the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly election this month. This is the very nature of the Liberal Democratic Party-led government.”

The former elementary school teacher stressed that it is unacceptable for the central government not to inform the prefectural government of U.S. crimes because of Governor Tamaki Denny’s anti-base stance. She expressed her determination to make efforts to encourage residents to raise their voices against the central government’s act in order to prevent a recurrence of hiding from the public crimes committed by U.S. soldiers.