The Japanese government lodged a rare protest against the United States on Sunday after an American Marine was arrested in relation to the death of a woman on the archipelago of Okinawa.
The Marine, Devin J. Ballard, a 20-year-old lance corporal assigned to the Third Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, was being held by the authorities in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, U.S. officials said. He is accused of robbing and killing Anna Yagi, 39, who was found at a hotel in Naha on Saturday morning.
The case threatens to revive concerns about the American military presence in Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, which is home to about 30,000 active-duty U.S. personnel. Crimes committed by American service members on Okinawa have been a source of tension between the United States and Japan for decades.
Japan’s foreign ministry filed its grievance on Sunday with the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, which said that it was aware of the matter and would cooperate with the investigation.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family,” the embassy said in a post on social media.
The Third Marine Expeditionary Force confirmed in a statement on Sunday that a Marine was in custody, adding, “the Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior.”
Japanese news outlets reported that surveillance footage showed Lance Corporal Ballard entering the hotel with Ms. Yagi early on Saturday. The police in Okinawa were unavailable for comment.
In 2017, an Okinawa court sentenced a former U.S. Marine, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, to life in prison after convicting him of the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman, Rina Shimabukuro.
Okinawa, with a population of 1.5 million, hosts 70 percent of the U.S. bases in Japan, despite accounting for only 0.6 percent of the country’s landmass. The United States seized Okinawa from Japan after World War II; it returned the island in 1972 but has continued to operate bases there. Okinawa is strategically significant because it sits close to China and Taiwan.
A once-prominent pacifist movement on Okinawa, which opposes the U.S. military presence, has lost some influence in recent years amid renewed concerns about China.
Genta Koja, a conservative politician, prevailed last month in the governor’s race for Okinawa, a victory for Japan’s hawkish prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, who is seeking to accelerate a military buildup there to counter China. Mr. Koja ousted an incumbent who had criticized Ms. Takaichi’s defense policies and opposed the construction of new U.S. armed forces facilities on Okinawa island.
Hisako Ueno contributed reporting.
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