The military’s regional coordinator announced on Tuesday that U.S. military personnel in the southern island prefecture would observe a 48-hour pause on operations starting noon on Wednesday. During that period, the military is suspending “off-base liberty, including a complete prohibition of alcohol consumption on or off base,” Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson said. After the pause, the military will impose a curfew on its personnel from midnight to 5 a.m. for 30 days beginning Friday. The Marine Corps said it has yet to determine whether alcohol consumption will be prohibited during the monthlong period, and that a review of “liberty policies and procedures will be conducted” to evaluate if any longer-term changes are needed.
“Incidents like this demand we pause for reflection,” Watson said. “Serving on Okinawa comes with responsibility. We live, work, and socialize alongside the people of Okinawa; their home is our home.”
The murder of Yagi has renewed calls to reduce U.S. military presence in Okinawa, where most of the U.S. military installations in Japan are concentrated.
“I want this case to be the last, and I want both governments to take it seriously,” she tells TIME, adding that she feels a sense of responsibility to make the voices of Okinawan women heard. “We have been saying that for 80 years. It’s not our first time saying that, so that’s also our fault, our responsibility that we lost her life.”
The incident has placed diplomatic pressure on the alliance between Japan and the U.S. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi registered a protest with the U.S. on Sunday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan will discuss with the U.S. “effective measures” to prevent crimes by U.S. military personnel.
Koja called for a review of the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement. The legal pact gives Japan the primary right to prosecute off-duty offenses against Japanese civilians by U.S. personnel. But if a suspect is already in U.S. custody, U.S. authorities generally retain custody until Japan files charges.
The Marines said that Ballard, who was based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, remains in Japanese custody.
Historical concerns
The concentration of U.S. bases in Okinawa has long been a key issue in local politics. For much of the past decade, the prefectural government has pushed to reduce U.S. military presence. In 2012, Okinawa’s prefectural assembly unanimously called for the closure of the Futenma air base and opposed deploying U.S. Osprey aircraft there. It passed a unanimous protest resolution when the aircraft were ultimately deployed.
Japan’s national government has sought to address Okinawans’ concerns while maintaining its security alliance with the U.S. Washington and Tokyo see Okinawa as strategically important to deter China in the western Pacific.
But the latest case has placed renewed pressure on the Japanese government to reduce U.S. military presence on the southern island.
Protests over U.S. military presence
“As a woman living in Okinawa, I find myself thinking: It could be me next, or my daughter, my niece, or the young girls I care about,” Anri Tomita, a protester, said at a rally on Sunday night. Former House of Councillors member Keiko Itokazu said, “The reason we insist that U.S. military bases in Okinawa must not be increased—and that no new bases should be built—is precisely because incidents like this happen.”
“With a far higher proportion of bases in Okinawa than in any other part of Japan, locals are exposed to the highest risk of harm at the hands of U.S. soldiers in the country,” Sakihama reportedly said at the rally. “The thought that we must raise our children in such circumstances feels utterly unjust.”
Most U.S. military personnel in Japan are stationed in Okinawa, which the U.S. occupied from the end of WWII to 1972. That includes roughly 30,000 active-duty U.S. military personnel and 25,000 of their family dependents. Despite accounting for around 0.6% of Japan’s land mass, Okinawa makes up around 70% of the land occupied by the U.S. military facilities in the country.
Several other high-profile crimes involving military personnel have fuelled protests over American military presence in Okinawa. In 1995, three U.S. servicemen were arrested for abducting and raping a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. Around 85,000 people gathered on Oct. 21, 1995, amid weeks of protests demanding stronger military discipline, a revision of the U.S.-Japan legal pact, and a reduction of U.S. bases. The men were convicted in 1996.
More than 60% of crimes involving U.S. military personnel in Japan occurred in Okinawa in 2023, according to Japanese newspaper Mainichi. Between 1972 and 2022, there were more than 6,000 criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel, including 134 cases of rape and 27 cases of murder, in the southern island.
On social media, Sakihama asked, “Who is the U.S. military protecting, and from what, if it can’t even protect the lives of the residents?”
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