Japan Press Weekly

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2013 March 27 - April 2 [US FORCES]

US marines trespass on public areas in Okinawa

The Japanese Communist Party Okinawa Prefectural Committee on March 29 made representations to the Okinawa Defense Bureau in protest against U.S. marines intruding into public areas during a training drill.

In the afternoon of March 26, a group of U.S. marines trespassed upon a promenade within the site of an environmental education center in Kunigami Village, after getting off a U.S. Osprey transport aircraft in a training field in the northern part of Okinawa’s main island. The center, which has accommodations as well, is located in a public park where a variety of animals and plants are found.

Maesato Tamotsu, a standing committee member of the party’s prefectural committee, said, “It is totally unacceptable for U.S. marines on training exercises to enter public properties outside their designated training areas.”

A defense bureau official said, “We made a request to the Marine Corps to prevent a recurrence of such acts. The U.S. side expressed its regret over frightening local residents.”

Feature Article:
> Crimes by US Servicemen