Japan, US review military liberty policies after Okinawa killing

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday that officials were reviewing the off-base code of conduct for US troops in Japan following the alleged killing of an Okinawan woman by a US marine.

Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-runs and drunk driving by US military personnel have long triggered protests on the southern Japanese island, which has for years urged other regions in the country to share the burden of hosting US troops.

“We plan to hold discussions including whether the existing rules are effectively functioning,” Motegi said, adding that “matters such as patrols and curfew management” would be under review in talks with the United States.

The high-level bilateral consultations would examine off-duty conduct and the “liberty” policy governing off-base private activities of US military personnel, he said.

The existing policy, updated in 2024 following a string of sexual assaults by US military personnel in Okinawa, includes a ban on US military personnel drinking in public off base between 1am and 5am or going to bars during those hours.

Japanese police arrested a US marine stationed on Okinawa last week on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in the capital Naha.

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US Marine arrested on suspicion of murdering a Japanese woman

The US military enacted a two-day operational pause after the marine’s arrest to reinforce discipline and standards, followed by a month-long curfew from midnight.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Tuesday that “we began high-level, working-level consultations between Japan and the United States last week on what effective measures should be taken”.

“The Japanese government will continue to do everything in its power both to address this case and to ensure that it does not happen again,” she told a legislative committee session.

Motegi held a telephone call at the weekend with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who offered his “sincere condolences” over the alleged crime, pledging US cooperation in the investigation.

Crimes committed by US personnel have been a thorn in relations between the close security allies.

Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a US marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa.