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Agence France-Presse

Crimes by US troops based on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have long angered residents, who for decades have claimed the American military was out of control.
But the rape and killing of the local woman, who had been missing for several weeks when her body was found last month, has set off fresh outrage on Okinawa, where tens of thousands of protestors rallied Sunday in one of the biggest demonstrations against US military bases in two decades.
US dangles large land return as anti-military base resentment rises in Okinawa
The protest marked a new low for the United States and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in their relations with the island and threatens plans to move the US Marines Futenma air station to a less populous part of the island.
The US and Japan agreed in 1996 to close Futenma, located in a residential area, after the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three US military personnel spurred mass demonstrations.

That plan has been on hold because residents near the proposed relocation site oppose the move, worrying about noise, pollution and crime.
Organisers said 65,000 people attended Sunday’s rally at a park in central Naha.
I want Abe to feel Okinawa’s pain
Protestor Shigenori Tsuhako
“Japan is part of Japan and when you hurt your little finger the whole body feels pain. I want Abe to feel Okinawa’s pain,” said Shigenori Tsuhako, 70, who came to the event because his grand daughter is the same age as the 20-year-old murdered woman, Rina Shimabukuro.
The US contractor, a former Marine, was arrested on May 19 on suspicion of abandoning the woman’s body, but has not yet been charged with killing her. In a separate incident earlier this month a US sailor was detained after injuring two people in a drink-driving incident.

Statistics do not suggest a major problem with US military crime on the sub-tropical island. But the cases have fuelled persistent irritation at the intrusive American military presence on overcrowded Okinawa.
Once the fiercest of enemies, now the best of friends: US and Japan are bound by their atomic legacy
The island hosts about 26,000 US troops, more than half the total Washington keeps in all of Japan under a longstanding security treaty, and residents have long complained at the disproportionately heavy US footprint.
Okinawa was the scene of a bloody battle between Japan and the US in the waning months of the second world war, followed by a 27-year American occupation that only ended in 1972 with its reversion to Japanese control.

The US military has gone all out to condemn the recent incidents and take measures to avoid further trouble, while the vast majority of its troops try to avoid the stigma created by their comrades who break the law.
Worried that more crimes could jeopardise the alliance, the military has been quick to express sympathy with Okinawans and taken steps to curtail problematic behaviour, such as restricting alcohol consumption and imposing a curfew.
“The overwhelming majority of American service members are law-abiding, upstanding members of this shared community,” First Lieutenant George McArthur, a Marine public affairs officer,said in a written response to questions.
“There is not an Okinawan and an American way to view horrific crimes - only one view, and that is that we are all repulsed, angry and grieving together.”

Troops were instructed to stay away from the venue of Sunday’s protest in the prefectural capital of Naha out of respect “and to prevent any possible conflict”, McArthur said.
Since the murder fewer troops are visiting the outdoor mall - where shops, restaurants and bars have names like American Depot, Garage House, Camp Market and Outlet J. - during evening hours, said Yoshie Morota, who runs a souvenir shop, though they still come during daytime.
“The crime made my stomach turn,” Morota, 60, said of the rape and murder. “But it doesn’t mean that all the Americans are bad.”
She said around 30 service personnel picked up litter at a busy car parking area early Saturday at the complex and appeared to share a sense of grief with local residents.

In May the US military imposed a 30-day period of mourning, putting troops under curfew and banning the buying and consuming of alcohol off base.
Last year criminal cases suspected to be linked to the US military represented just 0.8 per cent of all cases in Okinawa, according to figures from the prefectural government, remaining under one per cent for the third year in a row.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suspends work on Okinawa over US base relocation as talks resume
But critics say high-profile incidents are likely to keep happening as the actual number of troops coming to Okinawa is larger than statistics suggest, given they regularly rotate through and tend to stay for a limited period.
“In reality, the number of perpetrators is huge,” said Suzuyo Takazato, a female rights activist in Okinawa.
“Even if only one serviceman out of 100 commits a crime, it means 10 out of 1,000, and 100 out of 10,000, do.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters


The US military struggles to win hearts and minds in Okinawa as thousands protest woman’s murder

Thousands of residents carry signs saying "Our anger has reached the limit," as they rally in Naha in Japan's southernmost island prefecture of Okinawa. Photo: Kyodo

People pray for the soul of a slain local woman on May 26, 2016, near the site where her body was found one week ago in the Okinawa village of Onna. A former U.S. Marine was arrested for dumping her body. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

epa05348287 (FILE) A file picture dated 19 May 2015 shows US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircrafts sitting on the tarmac at US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma surrounded by overcrowded residential areas in Ginowan on Okinawa Island, southwestern Japan. According to media reports quoting the United States Forces Japan (USFJ) on 06 June 2016, a US sailor stationed on Okinawa Island was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. The sailor, identified as Petty Officer Aimee Mejia, 21, was involved on 04 June in a serious three-car accident with two injured, media added. Following the incident, the US Navy has banned its personnel based in Okinawa from drinking alcohol and restricted off-base activity. EPA/HITOSHI MAESHIRO

FILE - In this Friday, May 20, 2016 file photo, police officers escort Kenneth Shinzato, center, an American working on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, out of Uruma Police Station in Uruma on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to turn him over to the public prosecutor's office on suspicion of abandoning the body of a woman who disappeared last month. Japanese police said Thursday, June 9, 2016, that the U.S. military contractor arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of the woman is now officially the prime suspect in her murder and rape, in a high-profile case that has sparked outrage on the southern island.(Ryosuke Ozawa/Kyodo News via AP, File) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY

*** ONE TIME USE ONLY *** Undated photo of late RINA SHIMABUKURO.

A demonstrator holds a placard during a rally against the US military presence in Naha, Okinawa prefecture on June 19, 2016, following the alleged rape and murder of a local woman by a former US marine and a civilian worker employed on the US military base. Thousands of demonstrators rallied on the Japanese island of Okinawa on June 19 against the heavy US military presence and violent crimes by American personnel that have angered residents for decades. / AFP PHOTO / TORU YAMANAKA

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The rape and murder of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro has intensified longstanding opposition to US military bases
