'Not again': Arrest of US marine for murder reignites protests in Japan's Okinawa

'Not again': Arrest of US marine for murder reignites protests in Japan's Okinawa For many Okinawa residents, the detention of a U.S. service member accused of robbery and killing a woman in a hotel room has revived long‑standing anger over crimes involving American troops stationed there. "Honestly my archetypal absorption was, 'Not again,'" 52‑year‑old longtime Okinawa nonmigratory Ai Sato told the BBC. "Nothing has changed since I was a child. How galore times are we going to repetition the aforesaid thing, make much victims, origin their families to suffer, and ultimately, origin the radical of Okinawa to grieve?" Akemi Oshiro, a 62‑year‑old Ginowan nonmigratory, echoed similar feelings. "I cognize we shouldn't get utilized to unspeakable things similar this, but due to the fact that they support happening, I've stopped being surprised," she told the BBC. Okinawa hosts the largest U.S. military presence in Japan, home to several bases and tens of thousands of American troops. U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, was taken into custody by Japanese police on Sunday. Authorities said an investigation is underway and that Ballard remains in Japanese custody because the alleged offense occurred outside official duties. Whether a U.S. service member is acting in an official capacity determines which nation holds jurisdiction. When Japan has jurisdiction but the suspect is under U.S. custody, American authorities may detain the individual until Japan files charges. Ballard was assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force and stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan City. Okinawa prefectural police reported that 39‑year‑old Anna Yagi was found dead early on 3 October in a hotel room in Naha. Security footage allegedly shows a man believed to be the suspect entering the building with the woman and leaving alone with her possessions. Local media, citing police, said Yagi appeared to have been strangled with a cord. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi lodged a formal protest with Washington. Residents such as Sato said the response falls short. "I americium profoundly disappointed by the aforesaid kinds of authorities comments we person been proceeding for decades -- that they volition protestation oregon that they instrumentality the substance seriously." "I privation Prime Minister Takaichi to telephone President Trump directly, idiosyncratic with whom she has been emphasizing arsenic having a adjacent narration with, and sermon factual measures to forestall this from happening yet again," she said. Following news of the suspected murder, demonstrators across Japan voiced outrage, with roughly 100 people rallying in Naha and Tokyo. Others took to social media demanding justice, one individual declaring, "Enough is enough." Over the past few years, a series of accidents and crimes have heightened local concern about the U.S. presence on the island. The 2016 rape and murder of a 20‑year‑old local woman prompted tens of thousands to protest the heavy U.S. footprint; a former Marine later received a life sentence for the crime. The United States currently maintains about 55,000 troops in Japan, the bulk of them based in Okinawa. Although Okinawa is one of the nation’s smallest prefectures by area, roughly 70 % of the land used exclusively by U.S. forces in Japan lies there. Okinawa was returned to Japanese administration in 1972 after U.S. forces occupied the islands at the end of World War II. Since then, Okinawa Prefectural Government records show 6,409 arrests for offenses linked to U.S. personnel. Locals argue the sustained U.S. presence has bred resentment over a range of issues, from rapes, assaults and drunk‑driving incidents to noise complaints and aircraft crashes. In 1995, three U.S. servicemen abducted, beat and raped a 12‑year‑old schoolgirl as she walked home from a stationery shop. In 2025, a U.S. Marine was convicted of choking and sexually assaulting a Japanese woman. "Even 80 yeas aft the war, Okinawa wherever we unrecorded is simply a spot that is truthful unnerving," 48‑year‑old mother of two boys Hitomi Miyagi told the BBC. "We volition not halt raising our voices hoping for an Okinawa, wherever we tin unrecorded successful peace."