TOKYO – US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Saturday expressed regret over the handling of two cases of sexual assaults allegedly committed by US military personnel in Okinawa, which once again fueled resentment over the heavy presence of US troops on the strategic island in the far southwest of Japan. Japan.
Trouble erupted late last month, sparking an uproar over reports that two US military personnel had been accused of sexual assaults months earlier.
Both cases were first reported in local media in late June. In an arrest in March, a member of the US Air Force was accused of kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenager, and in May, a US Marine was arrested on charges of attempted rape resulting in injury. Further details about the alleged victims were not released.
Okinawa police said they did not announce the cases due to privacy concerns regarding the victims. The Itamaraty, due to police decision, also did not notify the authorities of Okinawa province.
The cases remind many Okinawans of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US military personnel, which sparked massive protests against the US presence. This led to an agreement in 1996 between Tokyo and Washington to close a major US air base, although the plan was repeatedly postponed due to protests at the site designated for its replacement in another part of the island.
Emanuel said he deeply regrets what happened to the individuals, their families and their community, but he did not apologize. “Obviously, you have to let the criminal justice process play out. But that doesn’t mean you don’t express your feelings of regret on a human level.”
“We have to do better,” he said, adding that the U.S. military’s high standards and protocols for educating and training its troops “are simply not working.”
Emanuel said the U.S. may propose measures to improve training and transparency with the public at U.S.-Japan foreign and defense ministerial security talks expected later this month in Tokyo.
On Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japanese authorities would do their utmost to provide faster disclosures of alleged crimes related to U.S. military personnel on Okinawa, while protecting the privacy of victims.
The cases could be a setback for the defense relationship at a time when Okinawa is seen as increasingly important in the face of rising tensions with China.
About 50,000 US troops are implemented in Japan under a bilateral security pact, about half of them in Okinawa, where residents have long complained about the heavy presence of U.S. troops and related accidents, crime and noise.
Emanuel commented on the matter during a visit to Fukushima, on the northeast coast of Japan.
The previous Saturday, the ambassador visited the nearby town of Minamisoma to join junior surfers and sample locally caught halibut for lunch, aiming to highlight the safety of the region’s seawater and seafood amid ongoing discharges of treated and diluted radioactive water of the Fukusima Daiichi nuclear plant, ruined by the tsunami.
China banned Japanese seafood due to the discharges, a move Emanuel criticized as unjustified.
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