Japanese police arrest US sailor for Okinawa rape as opposition to military presence on island deepens
A brutal 1995 abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl on Okinawa by three US servicemen sparked massive protests.
Japanese police said on Monday they have arrested a 24-year-old US sailor on suspicion of raping a Japanese woman on Okinawa, in a case that could further fan sentiment against Washington’s military presence on the fortified southern island.
Okinawa was the site of a brutal second world war battle between Japan and the United States but is now considered a strategic linchpin supporting the two countries’ decades-long security alliance.
Pacifist sentiment, however, runs high on the crowded island, which makes up less than one per cent of Japan’s total land area but is home to about 75 per cent of US military bases in the country.
More than half of the 47,000 American military personnel in Japan are stationed there and rapes and other crimes by US service personnel have sparked local protests in the past.
The US side said it would be a very disappointing incident if the allegation was true and that they’re taking this matter seriously
A spokesman with the Okinawan prefectural police on Monday identified the arrested seaman as Justin Castellanos, stationed at the US Marine Corps Camp Schwab base on the island.
Castellanos, arrested Sunday, allegedly raped the woman earlier the same day while she was unconscious at a hotel in the Okinawan capital city of Naha, the spokesman said.
