April 25, 2025

It was discovered on April 23 that U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa were successively sent to prosecutors on suspicion of sexually assaulting and inflicting injury on women in January and March of this year, respectively. It was only five days ago when the U.S. military and Okinawa police conducted an anti-crime joint patrol.

In June of last year, it came to light that the Japanese government and Okinawa police had covered up the case in which a U.S. airman who sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 16 in Okinawa was indicted. It was also revealed that five sexual assaults in Okinawa involving U.S. servicemen which occurred after 2023 had not been reported to the Okinawa government.

Reported sexual crimes by U.S. soldiers in Okinawa include:

- December 2023, an airman kidnapped and sexually assaulted an underage girl (prosecuted)
- January 2024, a Marine sexually assaulted a woman on the street (arrested)
- May 2024, a Marine sexually assaulted and injured a woman (arrested)
- June 2024, a Marine sexually assaulted a woman (filed)
- November 2024, a Marine sexually assaulted a woman (taken custody)
- January 2025, a Marine sexually assaulted a woman he knows (filed)
- March 2025, a Marine sexually assaulted a woman on base and assaulted another woman who tried to stop him (filed)

These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Many victims of sexual assault out of fear and shame fail to report the assaults to the police.

The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which grants special privileges to members of the U.S. military, is certainly one factor in frequency of crimes committed by U.S. soldiers. Under the SOFA, the U.S. side can hold offenders in custody until Japan’s law enforcement authorities decide to prosecute them. Reportedly, the suspect of the rape in March is still at Camp Hansen. About 70% of the U.S. military with exclusive rights in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa which accounts for only 0.6% of Japan’s landmass. More than 50,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Okinawa.

The most effective way to prevent the recurrence of crimes involving U.S. military personnel will be to fundamentally revise the SOFA and to downsize U.S. military bases with an eye to permanently close all of them.

Past related articles:
> Okinawan youth want an Okinawa where rape crimes by US soldiers never occur [December 23, 2024]
> Tamura: Gov’t should be accountable for its act of hiding from Okinawans US soldiers’ sex crimes [July 5, 2024]
> 5 US soldiers in Okinawa arrested for sex crimes in past 17 months [July 2, 2024]