A U.S. Marine stationed in Japan’s southern island of Okinawa was arrested following the death of a Japanese woman, local police said on Sunday. Japan lodged a strong protest with the U.S. and demanded maximum cooperation with the investigation.
A local police spokesman told the AFP that the suspect, a 20-year-old man, allegedly “killed the 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday.” The supsect has denied the allegations.Â
Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media outlets, citing investigation sources, reported that CCTV footage from near the scene showed a foreign man entering a room with a woman and later leaving with her belongings.
Police then found a 20-year-old man who matched the description of the suspect seen in the footage and asked him to accompany them voluntarily to a local police station, where he was arrested, NHK reported.
“The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,” newly elected Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja told reporters, the Associated Press reported. “It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.”
“We have lost a family member and are deeply saddened. My parents, in particular, are utterly devastated at the loss of their daughter,” the woman’s brother said through local police, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper.
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said it was aware that a U.S. service member was in police custody following the death of a Japanese national in Okinawa and that they are “communicating and cooperating” with Japanese authorities amid the investigation.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family,” the embassy said on social media.
Issei Kato / REUTERS 
George Glass, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, said on social media that he has spoken with Japan’s foreign ministry and Okinawa’s governor, offering “our sincere condolences and pledging full cooperation as the investigation continues.”
The latest case comes as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet pushes to further fortify its Japanese military presence on Okinawa and work more closely with the U.S. military.
Takaichi said Japan had lodged a protest with U.S. authorities and called the crime “exceptionally brutal and vicious.”
“The occurrence of the heinous crime is extremely regrettable,” Takaichi said in her message on social media.
She said Tokyo has urged the U.S. to “provide maximum cooperation with the investigation, enforce stricter discipline among U.S. military personnel, and take thorough measures to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes.”
The U.S. Marine Corps said in a statement to the AP that the suspect is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa and that it is fully cooperating with Japanese authorities.
“The Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior,” the statement said.
The U.S. has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, which the U.S. held from the end of World War II until 1972.
Crimes, including rapes, assaults and drunk-driving accidents committed by U.S. personnel have been a thorn in relations between the close security allies. The number of arrests related to U.S. service members and their families exceeded 100 last year, according to prefectural police.
“Incidents and accidents involving U.S. military personnel cause great anxiety among the local community and must not be allowed to happen,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said.
Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.
In 2017, a former U.S. Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa.
The same year, U.S. Forces Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after an intoxicated US Marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing its 61-year-old local driver.
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