Demonstrators call for Marines to leave, army presence to be reduced

Tens of thousands of people on Okinawa protested on Sunday against the presence of US military bases on the Japanese island, many wearing black to mourn the rape and killing of a local woman in which an American contractor is a suspect.

The rally called for a review of the US-Japanese security agreement, which burdens Okinawa with hosting the bulk of US troops in Japan. Also contentious is a plan to relocate a Marine Corps air station to a less-populated part of the southwestern island that developed after public anger erupted in 1995 over the rape of a girl by three American servicemen.

The killing of the local woman, who had been missing for several weeks when her body was found last month, set off outrage on Okinawa, where tensions periodically run high over crime linked to American troops. The US contractor, a former Marine, was arrested on May 19 on suspicion of abandoning the woman's body, but has not yet been charged with killing her.

'Utmost regret'

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga told the crowd on Sunday in Okinawa's capital, Naha, that he wanted to apologize to the woman for failing to protect her, even after what happened in 1995.

"We had pledged never to repeat such an incident," he said. "I couldn't change the political system to prevent that. That is my utmost regret as a politician and as governor of Okinawa."

Many people held signs demanding the Marines leave and the overall military on Okinawa be scaled back.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is behind the security agreement with the US, and wants Japan to take on a bigger military role on the international stage.

But those at the rally said they wanted a more peace-oriented Japan.

"This is not how we want the country to be," said university student Jinshiro Motoyama. "We want the bases gone."

Appease sentiments

The US military has periodically tried to appease sentiments on Okinawa. It says the crime rate among its ranks is lower than among the general public.

This month, the US Navy imposed a drinking ban after an American sailor was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving on Okinawa, driving the wrong way on a freeway and crashing into two vehicles, injuring two people. The restriction was recently eased.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, the commanding general of Marine Forces Japan, stressed the importance of the alliance.

"Please do not allow this terrible act of violence to drive a wedge between our two communities," he told reporters in Okinawa of the woman's death. "There may be issues we differ on. But we must continue to talk. Let's keep those lines of communication open."

But Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian history at Temple University in Tokyo, said resentment about the bases will likely continue on Okinawa, adding that he believes the base relocation project may be delayed.

"I think they just feel so frustrated," he said of residents of Okinawa. "These protests are not just going to go away."

?