Japan Press Weekly

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2017 November 15 - 21 [US FORCES]

Over 210,000 incidents involving US soldiers occur since 1952 in Japan

The number of crimes and accidents involving U.S. military and civilian personnel that occurred in Japan, as of the end of September of this year, reached 211,104 after the former Japan-U.S. Security Treaty entered into force in 1952.

According to data the Defense Ministry submitted to Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken, 1,092 Japanese were killed in these incidents.

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Cargo slipped out of parachute at US Yokota AB

A piece of cargo accidently slipped out of a parachute during training at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo onto the base premises on the morning of November 15.

The U.S. Forces Japan informed the nearby five cities and one town of this drop accident through Japan's Defense Ministry local defense bureau in response to inquiries the municipalities made based on citizens' eyewitness reports regarding the fallen object.

The cargo item fell from a parachute which a C-130J transport aircraft dropped from the air above the base to the ground near a base runway.

A network consisting of the six surrounding local authorities on November 17 demanded that the U.S. military and Japan's Defense Ministry determine the cause of the accident, take preventive measures, and give thorough instruction to ensure safety during military training exercises.

US Aegis destroyer collides with civilian boat

The U.S. Seventh Fleet based at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base on November 18 announced that USS Aegis destroyer Benfold during its training exercise collided with a Japanese civilian tugboat in Sagami Bay in Kanagawa.

Rescued and towed by another vessel, the tugboat returned to the Yokosuka Port. No one was injured.

Two Aegis destroyers of the Seventh Fleet separately caused fatal collisions: one off Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka in June; and another off Singapore in August.

Drunken US serviceman kills Okinawan in car crash

On the early morning of November 19, a U.S. truck collided head-on with a small pickup truck on a national road in Okinawa's Naha City, killing the driver in the small truck. Naha Police on the same day arrested a USMC lance corporal for driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in the death of a civilian.

The police detected alcohol level at three times the legal limit from the breath of 21-year-old Nicholas James-McLean who is assigned to U.S. Camp Kinser in Okinawa's Urasoe City. The U.S. military claimed that he was "off-duty".

Past related articles:
> US military refuses to cooperate in investigating collision between Japanese freighter and US destroyer [June 20, 2017]
> More than 80% of crimes committed by US servicemen not indicted [June 1, 2017]
> Over 1,000 Japanese killed by US military since formation of Japan-US alliance [February 15, 2017]