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Addis Ababa, June 28, 2024 (Address) Japan has protested to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo over an alleged case of sexual assault by American soldiers stationed in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
Two rape cases occurred in December and May involving two members of the U.S. Army stationed in Okinawa.
In one of the two cases, a 21-year-old Marine was charged earlier this month by prosecutors in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, with nonconsensual sex and assault in May 2024.
The second case was a woman who took two weeks to fully recover from a “bite on the mouth”. Media reports said she was also choked.
In March this year, a 25-year-old American pilot stationed in Okinawa was charged with raping a girl three months ago.
The rapes and assaults have sparked public outrage and heightened tensions among local residents about U.S. military bases.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano met with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Friday to demand that the United States take disciplinary and preventive measures over the two attacks.
Brigadier General Nicholas Evans, commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, expressed concern about the “seriousness” of the allegations, Al Jazeera reported.
Okinawa residents have long complained about base-related accidents and crimes, including the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. military members in 1995.
About 25,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Okinawa under a bilateral security agreement.
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