Japan's Okinawa Assembly Protests Rape

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Japan's Okinawa Assembly Protests Rape
TOKYO October 22, 2012 (AP)

The legislature of the Japanese island of Okinawa has passed a protest resolution following the arrests of two U.S. sailors accused of rape, and says U.S. bases there should be shrunk or returned.

The resolution approved Monday demands proper punishment and victim compensation in the rape case. The prefectural assembly also demands that the U.S. military educate its personnel better to prevent crimes against Okinawa residents.

The legislature says 5,747 crimes are on record involving U.S. military personnel since Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. It says that in some cases criminal activity is getting worse.

The U.S. Forces Japan has placed an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew to all military personnel in the country.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japans-okinawa-assembly-protests-rape-17531674

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(Short article, no more at link.)
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[jwirr]

1. For more info read Blowback by Chalmers Johnson.

[jorgebob28]

2. Also, Okinawa: Cold War Island

I lived there for 18 years and the US has simply outworn its welcome.

[Judi Lynn]

3. 'Our Rage Is Indescribable':Okinawan Officials Slam 'Yet Another Incident,' Impunity in Wake of Rape

Published on Monday, October 22, 2012 by Common Dreams

'Our Rage Is Indescribable': Okinawan Officials Slam 'Yet Another Incident,' Impunity in Wake of Rape by US Soldiers

Okinawan officials pass resolution on Monday expressing "overwhelming indignation" over rape of Japanese woman by US forces

- Common Dreams staff

The recent rape of a woman has added fuel to the fire of resentment over U.S. troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa causing local lawmakers to pass a protest resolution on Monday expressing "indignation" over troops committing crimes with impunity, and has fueled calls to rid the island of U.S. bases.

The most recent incident of the 5,747 crimes committed by U.S. military personnel since Okinawa was returned to Japanese control in 1972 involves the rape of a Japanese woman by two 23-year-old U.S. sailors, who both now admit to the charge.

"Yet another incident has taken place. In fact, the severity of the incidents is intensifying," the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly resolution said. "With overwhelming indignation, we must question the present efforts of the US Forces to prevent such incidents from happening."

Masaharu Kina, chair of the assembly, told reporters, "Our rage is indescribable."

Kyodo news reports that the resolution "also said the incident, coupled with the deployment of Osprey aircraft at a U.S. base in Okinawa, 'have prompted the residents here to raise voices to seek complete removal of U.S. bases in Okinawa.'"

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/10/22-10

[freshwest]

4. There was a famous trial about US servicemen raping Okinawan women in the past. Why no changes? WTH?

And a curfew 11 pm to 5 am?

They should all be remanded to base, that's where their job lies, not with the public.

They are there to operate machinery and keep a strategic presence, not agitate the Japanese.

[Divine Discontent]

5. +1

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[Art_from_Ark]

6. Some service members live off base

Other service members want to mingle with the locals in a friendly sort of way. In fact, AFRTS was actually encouraging that sort of thing when I was listening to Eagle 810 a few years ago.

[tabasco]

8. Japanese on Japanese crime rate is much higher in Okinawa

Should the Japanese also be on home confinement?

[tabasco]

7. Bullshit outrage

A short look at the figures shows that U.S. servicemen are well behaved and law-abiding, particularly compared to the Japanese.

Looking at the Internet pages about crimes by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa (taking our information from the pages most strongly opposed to the U.S. presence in Okinawa), in the last 30 years since Okinawa reverted to Japan, U.S. servicemen in Okinawa have committed 5,000 "serious crimes."

Serious, of course, as defined by the NPA. Enter the bull hamster factor again. Of these 5,000 crimes, 90 percent can be immediately dismissed as misdemeanors: car accidents, drunken driving (a serious matter in Japan), shoplifting, drug possession and drug sale, and of course barroom brawls. The remaining 10 percent of incidents are what Americans would consider truly serious crimes, the rapes, the murders, the assaults, and the armed robberies.

Altogether, about 160 of what are considered "serious" crimes (once again, the NPA definition) are committed in Okinawa every year by U.S. servicemen.

By contrast, how many "serious" crimes are committed every year in Okinawa by Japanese? Roughly 23,800 crimes a year.

Let's take this a bit further. Making the assumption — it isn't correct, but there is no male/female breakdown given in NPA statistics — that all the crimes are committed by men, then 650,000 Japanese males in Okinawa (Okinawa's population is 1.3 million) are committing 23,800 crimes per year while 30,000 U.S. servicemen are committing 160 crimes per year.

This gives a crime rate of 366 crimes per 10,000 Japanese males against 53 crimes per 10,000 U.S. servicemen. In other words, the per capita crime rate of U.S. servicemen in Okinawa is only 14 percent of that of the Japanese.

http://www.davidappleyard.com/japan/jp22.htm