US Marine Arrested in Japan for Murder of Woman

A 20-year-old U.S. Marine based on the Japanese island of Okinawa has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a Japanese woman, police said Sunday.

The suspect “killed the 39-year-old woman in a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday,” a police spokesperson told AFP. NHK and other Japanese media, citing sources close to the investigation, reported video surveillance footage showing a man entering a room with a woman, before leaving with her belongings.

Police later found the man matching the images and arrested him, according to NHK. According to local media, the suspect denied the allegations. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi denounced X as an “exceptionally brutal and vicious” crime. The government urged the United States “to cooperate fully with the investigation, strengthen discipline among U.S. military personnel, and take rigorous measures to prevent similar crimes from occurring again,” Ms. Takaichi said.

US Ambassador George Glass said on social media that he had spoken with the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the governor of Okinawa to express “sincere condolences and encourage full cooperation as the investigation continues.”

The United States has approximately 54,000 military personnel based in Japan and most of them are located in Okinawa. Rapes, assaults but also car accidents committed by American soldiers have already sparked demonstrations in Okinawa and constitute a recurring source of tension between Japan and the United States, close allies in security matters.

Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine to seven years in prison for strangling and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s. In 2017, a former U.S. Marine and civilian military base employee was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a woman in Okinawa.

That same year, U.S. Forces Japan banned all personnel from drinking alcohol after a drunken U.S. Marine crashed his vehicle into a small truck, killing its 61-year-old driver.