Japan Press Weekly

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2013 January 23 - 29 [US FORCES]

US curfew and alcohol ban is insufficient: JCP in Kanagawa

Representatives of the Japanese Communist Party Kanagawa Prefectural Committee on January 23 visited the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base to protest against a spate of U.S. crimes in the prefecture.

In Kanagawa, already three U.S. servicemen have been arrested in this new year. Of them, two were apprehended in Yokosuka City on suspicion of trespassing and the other was apprehended on an alleged assault in Yokohama City. The three committed these crimes under the influence of alcohol.

The JCP representatives, including a candidate for the House of Councilors Kanagawa constituency Hatano Kimie, submitted a written protest to the head of the U.S. Navy in Japan.

The protest letter states that the three incidents clearly show that the current curfew and the late-night drinking ban on all U.S. servicemen in Japan is ineffective.

In the letter, the JCP calls on the U.S. Commander of Naval Forces Japan to offer an apology to the victims and come up with concrete measures to prevent a recurrence of the off-base crimes committed by U.S. servicemen. It also demands the withdrawal of all U.S. bases from Japan and the abrogation of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

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On the same day, asked by reporters about repeated crimes by U.S. sailors, Kanagawa Governor Kuroiwa Yuji said, “It’s disgusting.”

He went on to say that the curfew and ban on drinking on U.S. servicemen “fail to yield positive results.”