April 25, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko on April 24 demanded that the Japanese government lodge a protest with the U.S. Forces Japan in regard to sexual assaults against Japanese women by U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa in January and March.

At a press conference in the Diet building on the day, Tamura pointed out that the two sex crimes occurred amid the rising public outcry in Okinawa for failing to prevent the recurrence of sex crimes involving U.S. military personnel. She stressed, “The U.S military and the Ishiba government should go all out to ensure that similar crimes never happen again.”

Tamura referred to news reports on the March case in which a female Japanese employee at a U.S. base was raped in a restroom on the base. She said, “U.S. bases in Japan are under U.S. control and jurisdiction. We’ll urge the Japanese government to conduct a survey on past incidents in which Japanese employees at U.S. military bases were targeted for sexual assault by U.S. service members.”

Tamura claimed that in order to prevent a recurrence, it is essential to realize a revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement so that a U.S. soldier who commits a crime will be placed under the custody of the Japanese police. In addition, she pointed out that the extraordinary concentration of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa leads to the non-stop recurrence of U.S. soldiers’ crimes, and demanded the removal of U.S. bases from Okinawa.