US Marine Arrested Over Suspected Murder Of Japanese Woman In Okinawa

A US Marine stationed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 39-year-old Japanese woman, police said on Sunday.

According to a local police spokesman, the suspect allegedly killed the woman at a hotel in Naha on Saturday and stole her wallet.

Japanese media, citing investigation sources, reported that CCTV footage showed a foreign man entering a hotel room with the woman before later leaving with her belongings.

Police subsequently identified and located a 20-year-old man who reportedly matched the description of the suspect in the footage. He was asked to accompany officers to a local police station, where he was arrested.

The suspect reportedly denied the allegations.

The incident has renewed concerns over crimes involving US military personnel on Okinawa, which hosts a large concentration of American military facilities in Japan.

US Ambassador to Japan George Glass said he had spoken with Japan’s Foreign Ministry and Okinawa’s governor, offering condolences to the victim’s family and pledging full US cooperation with the investigation.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan had lodged a protest with US authorities and described the killing as “exceptionally brutal and vicious.”

She called on the US to provide maximum cooperation with the investigation, strengthen discipline among its military personnel and take measures to prevent similar incidents.

The victim’s brother, speaking through police, said the family was devastated by her death, particularly her parents.

The United States has about 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, with most based in Okinawa.

Crimes involving US personnel have remained a longstanding source of tension between Okinawa residents and the US military. Okinawa hosts about 70 per cent of US military facilities in Japan.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said incidents involving US military personnel “cause great anxiety among the local community” and should not be allowed to recur.

Several high-profile cases have previously strained relations. In 2017, a former US Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a woman in Okinawa.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, about 6,000 US military personnel have been arrested in Okinawa since the island was returned to Japanese control in 1972. The number of arrests reached 80 in 2024, the highest in two decades.