Breaking and Entering by US Soldier: Too Much Crime To Ignore

A chief petty officer stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa was arrested for breaking and entering after he went into a woman’s room without permission. The woman, who is in her 30s, was resting in her bedroom at the time. I’m sure you can imagine her fear upon witnessing the sudden intrusion of the U.S. soldier. This is the third breaking and entering offense committed by a U.S. soldier since December of last year, and these incidents show no sign of slowing down. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the stationing of U.S. troops here.

In an effort to prevent the recurrence of these kinds of incidents, U.S. soldiers stationed in Okinawa are currently subject to an off-base drinking ban, excluding off-base residences. Additionally, soldiers who do drink on-base or at an off-base residence are not allowed to leave the premises with a blood alcohol content of 0.3 percent or higher. The officer arrested this time admitted to drinking on-base, meaning that it’s possible that he broke the ban. Implementing prevention measures is meaningless if soldiers have no intention of following them.

In a period of just over 41 years — from the reversion of Okinawa in 1972 until March of this year — allegations of criminal offenses by U.S. soldiers, their family members and civilian personnel within Okinawa total 5,808 and were made against 5,719 people. These are crimes that would not have been committed were there no U.S. military bases in Okinawa. The existence of those bases made such a high number of incidents possible.

In 2011, criminal offenses by U.S. military members in Okinawa included 42 incidents and 51 people, compared to a total of 120 incidents involving 121 people throughout all of Japan. Allegations in Okinawa alone make up 35 percent of total incidents and 42.1 percent of all suspects in the country, making it clear that there is a concentration of crime here. On top of the inequality of having 74 percent of U.S. military facilities concentrated in just 0.4 percent of Japan’s land area, Okinawa residents are also continually burdened with crimes committed by U.S. military personnel. It’s just too much to ignore.

Including Okinawa, a total of 14 prefectures in Japan are home to U.S. military bases. Residents of prefectures without bases don’t have to deal with the problems associated with them or the crimes committed by soldiers on a daily basis. I can’t help but point out that the neglect of these appalling human rights conditions is a violation of legal equality.

In February of this year, the prefectural assembly’s Special Committee on U.S. Military Base-Related Affairs decided to summon the director-general of the Okinawa Defense Bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ambassador in charge of Okinawan affairs to the committee to verify the effectiveness of the U.S. military’s preventive measures. Both of them refused, sending the exact same written response. Such a complete lack of effort to even offer an explanation shows pure disregard for the citizens of Okinawa. The director-general and ambassador should have responded and offered an explanation regarding the effectiveness of the measures. They both need to realize that their deliberate failure to act can only result in worsened Japan-U.S. relations.