Murder Alleged by U.S. Sailor
The story of the murder of a Japanese taxi driver has been in the news since the March 19th crime. This Washington Post article has more information on the murder and its alleged perpetrator who is a U.S. serviceman and intriguingly a Nigerian citizen. The article also discusses the backstory about the U.S. military presence in Japan. This whole episode brings up many issues. A few weeks ago in his podcast (and in a follow-up) Edward discussed the alleged rape of a Japanese teenage schoolgirl by another U.S. Serviceman and the dropping of those charges and (correctly, I think) discussed how few incidents there really are considering how many military people there are here (50,000). Nevertheless all incidents become high profile, as should be expected given the high level of anxiety the U.S. military seems to cause. Should the U.S. still be in Japan 60 years after WWII? Should Japan stop hysterical press coverage of crimes, especially those committed by foreigners (not that the U.S. press is any better)? Why does the U.S. have a Nigerian (or any foreign nationals) in its ranks?
Should the U.S. still be in Japan 60 years after WWII?
No.
Should Japan stop hysterical press coverage of crimes?
Yes. If the perpetrator has been caught, what benefit to the viewer is there in broadcasting it? I always thought the news should serve the public, not report crimes as a twisted form of entertainment.
Why does the U.S. have a Nigerian (or any foreign nationals) in its ranks?
Can there be any other reason than not having enough native recruits? This is from About.com:
“A non-citizen can enlist in the military. However, federal law prohibits non-citizens from becoming commission or warrant officers. In order for a non-citizen to enlist in the military, he/she must first be a legal immigrant (with a green card), permanently residing in the United States.”
April 4th, 2008 at 4:17 pmI believe that military service puts a person on a fast track to citizenship, and offers other benefits.
As far as the U.S. still being in Japan (which is a discussion that is more on topic), I think that neither the Japanese nor the Korean government wants the U.S. to pull its troops out of the area. In fact, I would not be surprised if China prefers a U.S. presence in Japan.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:31 pmWell, I think the murder case of a Japanese taxi driver by a US sailor was not that hysterically covered by Japanese press. I assume the news was only beneficial enough for the viewers and residents. But the US military had a Nigerian (or any foreign nationals) in its ranks, has something to do with the anxiety of Japanese that US military might lack high standard of discipline.
As Ed points out, the presence of US troops in Japan is probably also aimed to suppress the rise of Japan militarism.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:09 pmSpeaking of hysterical Japanese media coverage, I wonder how this is going to change (if it is) when they introduce a modified jury system. Will they have to stop basically laying out all the evidence and convicting people on TV to avoid contaminating the jury pool? That will be really interesting.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:06 pmthis happens and the reason for it is because the military is a stressed placed. But raping someone isn’t justified. Second, the reason why we are there so we can slowely emerge your country to a police state and be apart of a world wide martial law and New World Order head quarter. And that’s why we are still here.
April 5th, 2008 at 1:37 amMilitary service is a way to fast track citizen ship, and that track has been made faster since the Iraq war began.
In fact I believe the first soldier killed in Iraq was a Guatamalan national
Kairosan, rape is never justified, but if you crunch the numbers you will find that incidents involving US soldiers are no more numerous than they are involving Japanese citizens.
As for the New World Order crap, get back on your meds man.
April 6th, 2008 at 2:33 am