If you have not heard by now, a U.S. Marine allegedly has raped a junior high school girl in Okinawa, setting off a fresh new round of indignation and serious damage control by the U.S. Forces.
As you can see in the photo nearby, the U.S. military commander seems to have gone with the “bow enough and you can get away with just about anything” ploy that is so popular these days among politicians, corporate bigwigs, and other nogoodniks when they are caught red-handed.
To mark the occasion, the Mainichi has published a piece that purports to list a “record of postwar fatalities and sex crimes caused by US military in Okinawa.” Here is the list with fatalities due to accident crossed out, which, I guess, should leave us with a list of all the sex crimes committed by the U.S. military in Okinawa.
- September 1955: An American military member rapes and kills a 6-year-old girl in Kadena.
June 1959: A U.S. fighter jet crashes into Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa, killing 17, including 11 children.June 1965: A trailer falls from a U.S. military plane during training in Yomitan, landing on a girl and killing her.- July 1966: An American serviceman kills a woman in Kin.
- May 1968: An American serviceman rapes and kills a woman on the side of the road in Yomitan.
- February 1969: An American serviceman kills a woman in Koza.
December 1970: A U.S. military member’s car crash sparks rioting in Koza with citizens torching over 70 U.S. military vehicles.- April 1972: An American serviceman kills a woman in Kitanakagusuku.
- August 1972: An American military member kills a woman in Ginowan.
- December 1972: An American serviceman kills a woman in Koza.
- March 1973: An American serviceman kills a female restaurant worker in Koza.
April 1973: An American service member is involved in a fatal tank accident in Kin.- October 1974: An American military member kills a woman in Nago.
- May 1995: An American serviceman kills a woman in Ginowan.
- September 1995: Three U.S. military members abduct an elementary schoolgirl in the northern part of the prefecture, keeping her captive in their car before gang raping her. The crime sparks tremendous anti-base sentiment within the prefecture and anti-base rallies are held throughout Okinawa in October.
- October 1998: A U.S. Marine kills a schoolgirl in a hit-and-run in Kitanakagusuku.
- July 2000: A U.S. Marine breaks into an Okinawa apartment, performing indecent acts on the junior high schoolgirl sleeping inside.
- June 2001: A U.S. military member rapes a woman in her 20s in Chatan.
- May 2003: A U.S. Marine rapes a 19-year-old teenager in Kin.
- July 2005: An American serviceman indecently assaults an elementary schoolgirl in Okinawa.
- February 2008: A U.S. Marine is arrested for raping a junior high schoolgirl in Okinawa.
That makes 17 dastardly acts committed from 1955 to 2008, a total of 53 years.
While admitting that even one such act is horrible, and taking into account the fact that some such acts may not have been reported during the early years of The Occupation, this is still not such a bad record, everything considered.
Would be interesting to see a comparison made with other places in the world where permanent US bases are located (such as Germany and South Korea).
Would be interesting to see a list of assaults,
rapes and murders in Japan by Japanese for the
last 53 years.
No one is perfect. If someone commits a crime then
focus on that person or persons.
How can someone be an idiot when they have only allegedly done something?
I’m not saying, if proven true, that this was right, but it’s funny how the Mainichi account doesn’t have some details that are in other accounts. Mainly that he met her and offered her a ride home, after which she was allegedly raped in his car. Question: why was she accepting a ride home from a GI (or any other unknown adult)?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/11/japan.rape/index.html
My html skills are too lacking to embed that link.
Ryo, IIRC, the crime rate by soldiers from bases in Korea and Japan (I don’t know about Germany) are overall lower than for the native population in the surrounding area. Their coverage though is much higher (and somewhat understandably so given the scandal potential).
If they included stats from the Occupation, it would go way way way up.
“How can someone be an idiot when they have only allegedly done something?”
Well, as an ambassador for his country (whether he likes it or not) he’s admitted to picking up a 14-year-old girl, and he’s also admitted to force her to kiss him. If the reports of the press and the police are to be believed.
Based on that, would you call him sensible?
The guy “allegedly” raped her because he denies it. No doubt DNA testing will clear that up.
The guy is an idiot for what he admits doing, just like a policman who molests a woman on a train is an idiot, a judge who solicits sex from a teen in a telephone club is an idiot, and a school teacher who fondles a student under his charge is an idiot.
I know a little bit about the place in Germany where permanent US base is located. Generally the local people’s sentiment or reputation about US soldiers isn’t very good. It’s the same in Okinawa Japan. Therefore once a small crime or rape attempt occurs, it makes the circumstance worse.
Even the crime rate by soldiers from bases isn’t that high, it’s not enough. Very high standard of discipline is required for the permanent military bases.
I wonder what the feeling is among Americans who live near major bases in their own country. . .
Anyone out there wish to comment?
[…] item to emphasize the salience of the latter two. To be fair, Japundit’s Edward Ohmura is right about the the US Marines’ track record in Okinawa. But, that doesn’t mean the Japan-US alliance is just as important as it ever was, and the Fukuda […]
[…] ihrem Empfinden nach eine schwere Last. Da hilft es also wenig, wenn manch einer darauf verweist (siehe Kommentare hier…), dass die Kriminalitätsraten der lokalen Bevölkerung größer seien als die der in der Nähe […]
The comment about the commander is snarky, don’t you think? What is he supposed to do? Not apologize? Ignore it?
The most disappointing and aggravating part of this whole sordid episode is that the alleged perpetrator is a staff non-commissioned officer, a leader. He’s not some 18 year old guy away from the US for the first time in his life. He should know better, and I hope the Marines comedown on him hard after the Japanese are done with him.
Yes, MarkD, snarky as charged. But my snarkiness (snarkocity?) was not aimed at the commander, but rather at the form of the apology.
Of course, I must assume that the commander had the right intentions and was sincere, but I always cringe just a little bit whenever I see a gaijin bowing deeply like that when apologizing.
But that’s just me. . .
As for the second part of your comment, I agree with you 100 percent. I felt exactly the same thing when I read he is 38-year old guy. He should have known better.
Well, I was stationed in Sasebo, Nagasaki ken for 3 years and it was always the stupid service members that were in port for a few days getting in trouble because the rest of us had lived there long enough to understand the culture. Some service men did stupid stuff and we had to stop them and remind them this is not your country and this is our home your leaving tomorrow boat, but we have to live here so behave or else. It happened a few times. Sasebo has dealt with the Military for years. The city has 2 districts Sake town and Sailor town. New comers learn quickly while in Sasebo that Sake town is for locals only. No Sailors allowed in clubs or bars. (Those were the names we used in the military to describe those locations) It was understandable when you lived there as a service member. Because there was always Japanese culturally challenged transit idiots passing through that were clueless to what is acceptable.
On a side note.
I think Family Mart never helped having adult magazines out in the open with young girls modeling. No plastic covers. Not that that is an excuse to commit a crime, but sends a wrong message to American Service men indicating that the culture looks or sees Japanese girls under 18 objectively. So I can see some idiots treating Japanese girls that way, and sad to say, but possible.
Kelly
From Irving, TX
Home of the Dallas Cowboys for the Geographically challenged …
“I wonder what the feeling is among Americans who live near major bases in their own country. . .
Anyone out there wish to comment?”
Edward, I feel qualified to comment, having grown up on air force bases my entire life (coincidentally I was born at Kadena AFB in Okinawa).
In America, at least in my own experience, living near a base is not something people resent because the base is the livelihood of the surrounding area. Most people in the surrounding area work for the government directly or indirectly. Where I live, there was a big uproar because they relocated an entire squadron to a different base - that cost a lot of jobs. It also provides a sense of security. Sure there are downsides. Occasionally someone will get their window busted from a sonic boom (it’s rare) and the heightened security around bases is sometimes tiring. People are constantly moving, being relocated, so sometimes it seems like you’ve just gotten to be good friends with someone and then they’re gone. Real estate is also kind of tricky because bases usually own a lot (and I mean A LOT) of the land surrounding the base and in the surrounding wilderness of the towns as well. Also, some people tend to think that GI’s have a higher rate of violence that the general population, and there have been more than a couple high profile cases in my area of servicemen killing their families or whatnot.
But overall, it’s a positive experience. Bases contribute hugely to the local economy and patriotism is really high. I’m rambling, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Thank you, lilah for an interesting and informative response.
I have never lived near a base (though I have lived in a few) so I was wondering. . . Particularly concerning the feeling of “if these bases weren’t here we wouldn’t be having all these problems.)
Incidently. . .
RYO, the details you requested.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j072600.html
Further,
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1112/chalmers_johnson_on_imperial_rights
I find this number crunching to be pretty gross, but in any case, the Mainichi examples are not exhaustive. Here is a list (which I also doubt is exhaustive - I’ve saw another, longer list today, but I can’t seem to pull it up) of serious crimes in Japan committed by U.S. servicemen. It carries more crimes than the list you presented. See page 5-4:
http://www.nagano-c.ed.jp/kiso/03risuuka/kadaikennkyu/2004kadaikennkyuu/200405.pdf
In any case, I don’t think its particularly prudent to exclude military accidents from your list, for two reasons. As the Mainichi shows, Okinawans (and Japanese mainlanders) obviously see the two as part and parcel of the overall base burden, and secondly, because many of the accidents occur as a result of negligence on the part of some young soldier operating machinery. Negligence which, by the way, never sees the light of day in court, though many have tried.
I just looked at the Mainichi list again. Are you *seriously* trying to tell me that only two incidents with the bases occured in the 1950s? As someone interested in Japanese postwar political history, I know the details of at least five off the top of my head (one incident where a woman was cut IN HALF by a low flying jet - the pilot was probably showing off but escaped trial, one where a piece of an airplane hit an elementary school killing 20-odd pupils and wounding a hundred, two rapes and one murder). I know there are many many more. I really suggest you don’t rely on that list.
Yeah, it looks like the Mainichi list was far from exhaustive. Thanks to everyone for providing the additional information.
look,i’m not buying into this discussion (just dipping my toe in the water) …is this just another nail in the coffin of the Japan/USA (what ever clever word you use) relationship?
They never have been comfortable bed partners have they?”..just like sex ..someone prefers to be on top.
remora
Thanks Mike Oxlong for the links. I’ll get to them when I have more time but the passages you pasted are certainly interesting. On the face of it, this does suggest that more can and should be done to reduce the relevant rates of military sexual assaults in Okinawa.
One thing that is true about U.S. military life is something called “rotation,” which means that you generally spend limited time in one duty station before being “rotated out” to another. Because of this, I don’t think it is possible to say that there is something inherently wrong with the Okinawa GI, since that GI also will eventually spend time in locations that have lower crime rates.
If crime rates are so much higher in Okinawa than at other duty stations, is there something about Okinawa, the place, that makes people stationed there more prone to crime? Any thoughts?
Please do not misunderstand or misconstrue this musing. It is not meant to absolve Okinawa GIs of blame for their bad behavior. It is meant simply as a logic exercise.
Edward,
From talking to locals, one big reason is that in Japan, rape is seen as too shameful, and is thus reported far less than in the US. Further, punishments for successful convictions on Japan are not especially severe. The American military refuses to hand over suspects in most cases when the perpetrator has made it back to a base (only two cases since 1995 has this happened - suspect turn over is refused in most cases). Not being subject in many cases to local law, and having the military run interference in the cases where they are, soldiers feel invincible and believe they will never be caught or prosecuted.
this repeated crime deserves punishment (and I have spent a certain amount of time in-the-military)..why won’t America allow it’s overseas occupying service men and women who break local civil laws to be tried and if convicted ..to do the time just like any other localcriminal ??
I know why.
remora
just on this point of “rotation” business EC..does this also apply those current personnel in Iraq and other hot spots - from what I’m led to believe those guys are crying out for (long overdue) “Rotation”.
or is that just “special circumstances” ?.
I know that I have strayed inadvertantly “off topic” and into a dangerous slide zone..it just strikes me that some of the above comments & excuses are either apologist or specious….
(now watch the roof fall in on my head).
yours
I’m very sorry for saying anything
remora
No problem, rem.
Yes, “rotation” applies particularly to a combat zone or for hardship tours. I don’t know what the current tour of duty is in Iraq, but I am sure there is one.
I believe I have heard that some tours in Iraq have been extended, but I don’t know the details about that.
I feel sorry for some of these units who get sent back for multiple deployments. Long ago, when there was a draft in the U.S., I believe (though I am not 100% sure) that once you served a tour of duty in a combat zone, you didn’t have to go again unless you wanted to.
Any military folks out there wishing to englighten us on this point?
[…] Japan- A lesson on how deal with the Japanese.- The sellout of the kidnapped Japanese citizens continues.- Jesus through Japanese eyes. - This dude needs to get a life.- A US Marine on Okinawa arrested for rape. […]
i never meant this to stray over into “that area” - I know very little about the complex problems of loved ones overseas..and the worry that must trouble the hearts of family back home.
(and home is everything).
remora
[…] more about this story, see also this English-language post and a long set of comments responding to it. Share […]
I think there is a lot more mileage (kilometre-age) in this very important Post.
I am suprised that there wasn’t a better response to the invitation.
“Any military folks out there wishing to enlighten us on this point?”
Because i don’t think the issue going to go away..or be swept under the carpet.
remora
*I’ll get back to Cars & Puns now*…..thanx
I’m not military, but I believe deployments in combat zones are now at least 14 months and possibly 18, although that may include some stateside training time and acclimation time in Kuwait. You’re supposed to have a minimum of a year between these types of deployment or maybe more, but I think that has been cut as well. All due to the ongoing hostilities and a lack of troops (airforce and navy don’t really help with an occupation as they can’t put many of the proverbial “boots on the ground”). They rotate based on need, etc.
On your other questions, Remora, the US usually tries to work out deals to try its own soldiers with local governments. Usually done to protect them from local disputes and politics, as well as maintain (legal) control over their own troops. IIRC, it used to be in Japan that they had to be convicted before getting handed over, but after the horrific kidnapping and rape of the 12 yr old girl by 3 marines, I think now they get handed over very quickly if it’s a serious crime like rape or murder.
Of course, given the state of accused rights in Japan (no lawyer, coerced confessions, ability to hold w/o charges almost indefinitely by releasing and rearresting on the stop, etc.), I’m not always sure that’s progress.
[…] ihrem Empfinden nach eine schwere Last. Da hilft es also wenig, wenn manch einer darauf verweist (siehe Kommentare hier…), dass die Kriminalitätsraten der lokalen Bevölkerung größer seien als die der in der Nähe […]
[…] US Marines on Okinawa are coming under some intense scrutiny after the rape of a 14 year old Okinawan girl a week ago allegedly by a Marine NCO, along with the […]
I have crunched the crime numbers from the Okinawa Prefecture website and it shows that SOFA status personnel on Okinawa are not committing an inordinate amount of crime compared to the general population:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/19/us-marines-on-okinawa-face-scrutiny-over-recent-crimes/
Also people making claims that US military personnel do not do time in local prisons if convicted do not know what they are talking about. US military personnel according to the SOFA serve their time in Japanese prisons when convicted. The soldiers are not handed over to be held in Japanese jails after arrest because of issues with legal representation and coercive interrogation techniques used by Japanese authorities.
US servicemembers are ordered to serve in Japan unlike civilians who choose to go to Japan. At a minimum the US government owes sevicemembers access to a fair trial and that is what the SOFA provides. Once convicted the servicemember will do their time in a Japanese jail.
As far as combat tours Marines have always done 7 month tours and still do. US Army units do 12 months tours and units as part of the “surge” are doing 15 month tours which are now coming to an end. During Vietnam drafted people only did one combat tour but people who voluntarily enlisted in the military as a career would end up doing multiple tours.
Also people who live outside military bases in the US are usually very pro-military because many of them work on post while many others are retired military and live near the base to access the PX, commissary, and hospital.
Washington State is probably one of the most anti-military states but Lakewood outside of Ft. Lewis, WA is extremely pro-military and when the hippies protested the deployment of soldiers from the base to Iraq, people in Lakewood mounted a huge counter protest and the hippies didn’t come back. For months the people held pro-troops rallies every weekend outside the base.
[…] ihrem Empfinden nach eine schwere Last. Da hilft es also wenig, wenn manch einer darauf verweist (siehe Kommentare hier…), dass die Kriminalitätsraten der lokalen Bevölkerung größer seien als die der […]
[…] the governor of Okinawa, and even an apology by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Okinawa schoolgirl by a U.S. Marine. . . the girl has dropped her criminal complaint and the local district prosecutor has dropped all […]
Claytonian,
It turns out you were right and charges have been dropped because the girl withdrew her criminal complaint against the Marine. I have edited the story accordingly.
Well, Claytonian’s conjecture was that the man couldn’t be branded an idiot.
I contend that he can. Just as before, based not on the rape allegation, but everything else that he’s admitted to.
I think that was the same girl I picked up a couple months ago for Enjo-kosai. Damn, I’m glad I paid her good. He musn’t of had enough Yen on him.
Claytonian’s Conjecture? is that anything like Occam’s Razor overoften?
“All other things being equal, the simplest explanation is the best.” In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam’s razor is usually understood.”
Now notice the word simplest..that sort of sums up my personality perfectly (Simple of mind & Simple of Nature)
yours
Ramblin’ Shamblin’ Jolly Jacque remora
*Sea Shanties by request*
The solution is quite easy.
Lock down the bases that have problems and leave them that way. Order everyone to live on-base, stay on-base except when on official military business, and punish violations under the appropriate articles of the UCMJ.
There is no reason for US troops to interact with Japanese civilians except formally and in uniform while on official business.
Another way to reduce discipline problems is to ban alcohol on overseas bases that are locked down. When you have a large poplulation of young men, they are going to get drunk and do stupid things. When this is a threat to the mission, order them to cease. The military is a well-paid job with a great retirement package, so anyone not willing to obey is replaceable. We have enough alkies in VA hospitals without encouraging drunken behavior.
Military discipline is simple. Give orders, enforce them, and punish disobedience until the orders are obeyed. Volunteers not liking this can opt to leave when their time is over.
Why don’t Japanese press to lock down US bases? You don’t need G.I.s in your country except as part of military cooperation.
a fine comment Anonymous MSgt - exactly the type EC issued the invitation too.
Thanks
[…] of the U.S. Marine in Okinawa who was accused of raping a 14-year old girl that we reported on here, here, and […]