Japanese government imposes alcohol and curfew ban on US soldiers in the country

Lieutenant General Benjamin T. Watson, Okinawa Regional Coordinator and Commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, announced yesterday that all military operations on the island were suspended for 48 hours.

Watson stated that as of today, alcohol consumption for personnel, including inside and outside the base, is completely prohibited, and personnel will not be allowed to leave the base.

Lieutenant General Watson noted that within the scope of the 30-day "thinking period" that will start on Friday, a curfew will be implemented from midnight to 05:00 in the morning.

In his statement, Watson said, "Every contact we establish with our neighbors either strengthens or undermines the trust that is vital for our team. When this trust is damaged, the strength of our alliance and the security of this region are affected."

After the murder, protests were held in the capital Tokyo and Naha.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described the incident as "extremely brutal and disgusting" and expressed a strong protest to the US administration and demanded strict measures to prevent similar crimes from being repeated.

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja met with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Governor Koja stated that the incident caused deep concern among the public and said, "As the governor's office, we have requested the US army to take precautions in every case; but if this happens again, it means that the discipline and human rights training in the American forces are not working at all."

Minister Koizumi said that they will hold talks with the USA for effective measures. Koja is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Takaichi during the day.

Japan is home to the United States' largest military force based overseas.

The majority of the approximately 54,000 US military personnel and 18,000 marines in the country are stationed in Okinawa, which remained under direct US rule after World War II until 1972.

The island, whose closest point is 100 kilometers from Taiwan, is seen as a strategic deterrent point by the Tokyo and Washington administrations against possible military steps from China.

However, military plane crashes, noise and past crimes continue to attract the reaction of the islanders.

The sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl by three American soldiers in Okinawa in 1995 sparked mass protests.

In 2017, a former US marine and civilian base employee who raped and killed a woman was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the same year, alcohol was banned after a fatal accident caused by an alcoholic soldier.

Last year, a marine who attempted to strangle a woman and sexually assault her was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Japanese court.

The latest murder is expected to increase objections to the process of relocating some elements of the Futenma air base to the facility in Henoko.