Japanese protesters demand apology from US military over sexual assault case

ISTANBUL

Hundreds of people held demonstrations in Japan over the weekend, seeking apology from the US military over a sexual assault case involving a serviceman.

Governor Tamaki Denny was among the crowd in the southernmost Okinawa province where the protests were held.

They demanded the US military “give an apology and compensation to the victim in a sexual assault case one year ago,” Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

Okinawa hosts 31 US military-exclusive facilities covering 70.3% of such sites nationwide by land area and is home to roughly half of the 50,000 US troops deployed in Japan under a bilateral security pact.

There were 118 criminal cases involving US military personnel in Japan in 2023, and of those, 72, or 61%, were committed in Okinawa.

On Sunday, some 2,500 people took to the streets demanding an apology from the US military over an incident involving Brennon Washington, a 25-year-old US serviceman from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

A court sentenced him to five years in jail for abducting and sexually assaulting a girl under 16 at his residence in December last year.

Authorities say the two were not known to each other, the report said.

Governor Denny said: “Many residents of Okinawa have been forced to coexist with US bases under a cloud of anxiety, and that Okinawans must raise their voices and take stronger action.”

A university student representing young residents asked: “Why do they have to be deprived of their adolescence just because they were born in Okinawa near US bases.”

“A similar incident must never happen again,” she said.

Later the demonstrators passed a resolution, which will be delivered to governments in Tokyo and Washington, demanding that the US military offer an apology and compensation to the victim.