Okinawa prefectural police have arrested a 38-year-old U.S. Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl and sent him to public prosecutors. It is hoped that the United States Forces Japan will fully cooperate with Japanese investigators to determine the facts related to the alleged crime while strengthening the discipline of its members.
The arrest came the day after a mayoral election in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in which a candidate supporting the relocation of 59 U.S. carrier-based aircraft to a local base edged out a former mayor opposed to the relocation.
This incident reminds Okinawan people of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen. It could harden their attitude not only to the plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan — especially moving Futenma Air Station from Ginowan to Nago — but to the very presence of U.S. military bases in their prefecture.
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