Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, October 9 (Reporters Liang Chen, Li Ziyue, Chen Ze'an) Japan's Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a protest resolution and opinion letter on the 9th regarding the suspected robbery and murder of US soldiers stationed in Japan. It protested to the United States and made representations to the Japanese government, demanding that effective measures be taken to prevent similar cases from occurring and that the Japan-US status agreement be fundamentally revised.
Analysts pointed out that Japan has long been dependent on the United States and has an unequal position in bilateral relations. This murder is the consequences of Japan's foreign and security policies. In addition, Japan continues to strengthen its military deployment in Okinawa, exposing local people to new security risks.
Murder case reignites public outrage
The US soldier involved is 20-year-old Marine Devin Ballard, who is affiliated with the US military Futenma Base. He is suspected of killing a 39-year-old local woman and stealing her wallet and other items at a hotel in Naha City, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, in the early morning of the 3rd.
Okinawa Prefecture police arrested him on the 4th. According to Japanese media citing police sources, the physical characteristics of the suspect in the surveillance video match those of Ballard, but Ballard responded "I don't know" and denied committing the crime when questioned by the police.
In response to this case, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae expressed "extreme regret" on the 4th. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi summoned U.S. Ambassador to Japan Glass and Commander of U.S. Forces in Japan Yost respectively on the same day to express protest. On the 5th, Okinawa Governor Genta Furusha also summoned the head of the U.S. military stationed in Okinawa and the U.S. Consul General in Okinawa to protest.
The Naha City Council unanimously passed a protest resolution and opinion letter on the 6th, demanding that the truth of the case be found out, an apology be made to the bereaved family, and full compensation be given. The Japanese and American governments are responsible for taking fundamental measures to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy.
In the face of Japanese protests, the US military stationed in Okinawa announced that it would suspend daily operations from noon on the 7th to noon on the 9th, and implement a 30-day restriction on going out at night starting on the 9th. The United States also expressed condolences to the families of the victims and stated that it would cooperate with Japan's investigation, but it did not apologize.
The occurrence of the case and the attitude of the United States made the local people extremely angry. On the 4th, hundreds of people held a protest rally in Naha. Some female protesters expressed that they were always worried that they or their daughters would become the next victims. Okinawa people also expressed their anger through social media. Posts such as "The Japanese government is too weak", "The Japanese government is influenced by the United States" and "(Japan) is no different from a 'colony'" frequently appeared.
Okinawa’s nightmare continues
The anger of the people in Okinawa is closely related to the local long-term war trauma and base burden.
In 1879, Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom by force and established Okinawa Prefecture. At the end of World War II, Japan used Okinawa as a battlefield to prevent the US military from attacking the mainland, causing heavy casualties among local civilians. After the war, Okinawa was ruled by the United States.
In 1972, the United States "returned" the administrative power of Okinawa to Japan, but Okinawa did not get rid of the base nightmare. Okinawa Prefecture, which only accounts for about 0.6% of Japan's land area, hosts about 70% of the dedicated facilities for the US military stationed in Japan. Problems such as crime, noise, and pollution arising from US military bases have long plagued local people.
Statistics from Okinawa Prefecture show that from 1972 to 2025, there were as many as 6,409 criminal cases committed by U.S. military soldiers and military dependents, and the number of cases involving U.S. military-related personnel has been on the rise in recent years.
The high incidence of crime among U.S. troops stationed in Japan is inseparable from the special status granted to the U.S. military by the Japan-U.S. Status Agreement. This agreement signed in 1960 stipulates that if the US military commits crimes while performing official duties, the US has priority in trial; crimes committed outside official duties are generally tried first by Japan. However, if the suspect is under the control of the US, in principle, he will still be detained by the US until prosecution by Japan. This means that once the US military personnel involved return to the base, it is entirely up to the US side to decide whether to hand them over to the Japanese police. With suspects under the protection of the United States, their cases are often reduced to minor issues.
The above-mentioned clauses have triggered strong opposition from the Japanese people since the rape of an Okinawa girl by three US troops in 1995, but the unequal clauses in the Japan-US status agreement have not yet been revised.
Analysts pointed out that the fundamental reason why the Japanese government is so tolerant to the United States is its dependence on the United States for security. An editorial in Japan's Mainichi Shimbun criticized the Japanese government's hesitation in taking fundamental measures such as revising the Japan-U.S. Status Agreement, exposing its fear of the United States as its security backer.
Military expansion adds to crisis
Some analysts pointed out that the people of Okinawa have not only suffered from various troubles caused by the US military stationed in Japan for a long time, but also face new risks brought by the Japanese government's accelerated military expansion. In recent years, Japan has taken advantage of the adjustment of the U.S. security strategy and the rising demand for Japan's military to accelerate its military expansion, using Okinawa as a "frontier of combat readiness."
The Gao City Government, which came to power in October last year, has been particularly active in expanding military preparedness. Shinjiro Koizumi visited the Self-Defense Forces bases in Ishigaki Island and Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture in November last year and claimed that the plan to deploy medium-range air defense missile units on Yonaguni Island was proceeding step by step.
Japan's "Red Flag Newspaper" reported in June this year that the Ministry of Defense plans to expand the beds of the Self-Defense Forces Naha Hospital and build a medical evacuation system to transport the wounded from the frontier islands of Okinawa Prefecture to the mainland. Genta Furusha, who was elected governor of Okinawa Prefecture with the support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also said that he is willing to transform the airports, harbors and other facilities managed by Okinawa Prefecture so that they can better serve the government's military deployment in "emergency situations."
Local Okinawa media and Japanese left-wingers said that the Takayama City Government verbally promised to reduce the burden on Okinawa and revitalize the Okinawa economy, but in fact it promoted military deployment in Okinawa. The burden on U.S. military bases has not eased, and Okinawa's frontline role in Japan's military expansion has been further strengthened.
Tomoko Tamura, chairman of the Communist Party of Japan, criticized the Japanese government for ignoring Okinawa's history of brutal wars and insisting on expanding its armaments, which may turn Okinawa into a battlefield again. Hiroshi Maedama, a professor at Okinawa International University, wrote an article stating that the Japanese government has strengthened its military deployment in Okinawa in response to the so-called "emergency", which has impacted local people's lives and the local economy; if Japan continues to deepen its reliance on military means, it will likely slide into war.
