Japan has lodged a powerful protest with the United States after a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of robbing and killing an area girl in Okinawa, an incident that has renewed issues over crimes involving US army personnel stationed on the island.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, talking to parliament in Tokyo on the primary day of a unprecedented Diet session, stated Japan has referred to as for full US cooperation with the investigation, stricter self-discipline amongst US army personnel and thorough measures to forestall related incidents.
The suspect, 20-year-old US Marine Devin Ballard, stationed in Okinawa, was taken into custody and despatched to prosecutors, based on Okinawa police. He is suspected of robbing and murdering 39-year-old native resident Anna Yagi at a lodge within the prefectural capital, Naha, within the early hours of Saturday, October 3.
Ballard has denied the allegations, based on police.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers a speech on the Diet in Tokyo, Japan, October 5, 2026. /VCG
The incident has drawn anger in Japan from each the federal government and the general public.
The day after the incident, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi summoned US Ambassador to Japan George Glass and Commander of US Forces Japan Stephen Jost, respectively, to lodge sturdy protests, urging the US army to strengthen self-discipline and take measures to forestall related circumstances.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara stated Monday that Japan will “continue to urge the US side to thoroughly enforce discipline.”
A protest additionally befell outdoors the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo on Monday night time. Some demonstrators linked the incident to the lengthy historical past of sexual violence involving US army personnel in Okinawa and criticized what they referred to as the Japanese authorities’s insufficient response.
Mizuho Fukushima, a member of Japan’s House of Councillors, criticized the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, arguing that its custody provisions hamper Japanese investigations of US army personnel suspected of crimes.
Crimes involving US army personnel have lengthy been contentious in Okinawa. According to official statistics, Okinawa prefectural police recorded 101 prison circumstances involving US army personnel, civilian workers and their members of the family in 2025, the primary time the annual determine had exceeded 100 since 2003.
Source: CGTN