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In the early hours of last Saturday morning, police on the Japanese island of Okinawa were called to a hotel in the capital city of Naha to deal with a grisly discovery in one of its rooms.
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police → publish → rooms
Aware that one of their guests, a 39-year-old Japanese woman named Anna Yagi, had failed to leave during her designated checkout time the previous day, a hotel employee grew concerned and entered the room.
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employee → name → room
They found Yagi lying unconscious, but paramedics were unable to save her.
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paramedics → find → her
A post-mortem determined she died of suffocation and had been strangled sometime between 2am and 4am that night.
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she → determine → am
When police examined CCTV footage, they spotted a foreign man with a shaved head and tattoos entering the hotel with the woman and, some hours later, leaving alone, carrying her wallet and backpack.
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man → examine → wallet
They were later found near the hotel.
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They → find → hotel
Police arrested the suspect less than 24 hours later as he was walking around the city, reportedly recognizing him from his tattoos.
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he → arrest → tattoos
He is 20-year-old Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard of the US Marines and his arrest for robbery and murder has plunged American relations with one of its key Asian allies into a growing crisis.
With the Trump administration clamping down on US foreign defense commitments and both China and North Korea increasingly flexing its muscles, Americans might argue that – even if the killing of Yagi sounds horrendous – a crime committed by a US serviceman is a small price to pay for the benefit of being protected by Uncle Sam.
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crime → plunge → Sam
However, as recent days of streets protests in Okinawa and Tokyo have made clear, the killing of Japanese civilians – both accidentally or intentionally – by US servicemen is an issue that is neither new nor rare.
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that → make → servicemen
Police arrested the suspect Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, less than 24 hours after he allegedly strangled a 39-year-old to death
Ballard's arrest for robbery and murder has plunged American relations with one of its key Asian allies into a growing crisis.
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arrest → arrest → crisis
Japan hosts the largest contingent of US forces of any country in the world, and most of these servicemen are on the islands of Okinawa.
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most → host → Okinawa
Some 1.4 million Japanese live on Okinawa – 90 percent on Okinawa Main Island, the biggest of 160 isles – but so, too, do more than 30,000 US military personnel, including most of the 18,000 Marines stationed in Japan.
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personnel → live → Japan
Thanks primarily to its critical strategic position close to continually threatened Taiwan, the Okinawa prefecture – which includes other, smaller islands in the chain as well as a main island that is just 66 miles long by an average of seven miles wide, hosts 70 percent of America's bases in Japan.
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that → threaten → Japan
And yet Okinawa accounts for less than one percent of the country's total land mass.
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Okinawa → account → mass
All this might not matter too much, say opponents, if the Americans showed more respect towards their hosts and if the Japanese government hadn't for centuries treated Okinawans as second-class citizens.
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government → matter → citizens
An island packed with US military and particularly – in the US Marine Corps – arguably its most aggressively trained troops, has had to contend with rising crime committed by these servicemen.
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island → pack → servicemen
At the same time, Okinawans complain bitterly that they have in the past been severely hampered in bringing the offenders to justice by the unique laws that restrict how the Japanese justice system can handle the American troops on its soil.
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system → complain → soil
On Wednesday, the US began a 48-hour pause of military operations on Okinawa as well as a ban on alcohol on or off base, as troops undergo what critics would say was much-needed training on standards and discipline.
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critics → begin → standards
Service members have also been given a month-long nighttime curfew for what their commanding officer called a 'pause for reflection.'
He went on:
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He → give → reflection
'Discipline is our foundation – the habits we develop and demonstrate in our daily actions,' said Lt Gen Benjamin Watson in a letter to US military personnel in Okinawa announcing the measures.
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Watson → develop → measures
He said that serving on Okinawa 'comes with responsibility' towards Okinawans as 'their home is our home.'
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home → say → Okinawans
'Every interaction with our neighbors either builds or undermines the trust that is essential to our team.
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that → build → team
When that trust is damaged, it affects the strength of our alliance and the security of this region.'
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it → damage → region
Lt Gen Watson said that US forces would fully cooperate with Japanese investigators.
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forces → say → investigators
His stirring words are unlikely to placate Japanese critics who say they've heard it all before from allies that many in Okinawa regard as military occupiers who have been allowed to virtually run amok on their island under a controversial 1960 US-Japan agreement.
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who → placate → agreement
The problem of American servicemen committing crimes in Okinawa, especially rape, has caused tension for decades but is only growing, according to local police.
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servicemen → commit → police
They say that crimes involving US military personnel have risen from around 40 in 2020 to 101 last year.
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crimes → say → 101
After a demonstration attended by 160 people in Naha hours after the suspect's arrest, where one sign read: 'We've had enough of this!' – the protests rapidly spread to Tokyo.
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protests → attend → Tokyo
Protests have rapidly spread to Tokyo with many fed up about the killing of Japanese civilians by US servicemen
Lt Gen Benjamin Watson said that serving on Okinawa 'comes with responsibility' towards Okinawans as 'their home is our home'
On Tuesday, hundreds of people joined one outside the US embassy, demanding justice for the murder victim and the elimination of US military bases in Okinawa.
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hundreds → spread → Okinawa
Protest leaders, who held another demonstration outside the Japanese foreign ministry on Thursday, are also putting pressure on their own politicians, who have long been accused of turning a blind eye to Okinawa's issues with its American guests.
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who → hold → guests
The outrage has caused problems for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi who, amid rising tensions with China, not only wants to challenge Japan's pacifist post-war past by increasing military spending but also wants to increase defense cooperation with the US.
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who → cause → US
She has plans to add more Japanese troops, missiles and radar towers to already considerable forces on the Okinawan islands.
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She → have → islands
Instead, she has been forced by the outcry over the murder to turn on her US ally, calling the killing 'exceptionally brutal and vicious.'
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she → force → killing
She said Japan had lodged a strong protest with Washington and has 'demanded their full cooperation in the investigation, the tightening of discipline of US military personnel, and thorough measures to prevent the occurrence of such an incident.'
The Prime Minister met with Okinawa governor Genta Koja who, although he stood against an anti-war rival in a recent election for his post, told her the killing has caused 'great anxiety' among Okinawans and was 'absolutely unforgivable.'
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killing → say → Okinawans
He also told her that attempts by the US military to improve discipline among servicemen there 'are not working' and he lodged his own formal protest over the killing with the US Consul General on the island.
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he → tell → island
'This case involves a 20-year-old Marine, quite a young person,' said the governor.
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governor → involve → Marine
'I want to ask detailed questions about their initial training program and the management procedures in place for their assignments to Okinawa and seek measures to prevent similar crimes.'
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I → want → crimes
A 2023 poll found that seven in ten Okinawans feel that the concentration of US bases on their islands is 'unfair' but also revealed that young Japanese are becoming more resigned to the heavy military presence.
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Japanese → find → presence
The issue dates back to the end of the Second World War when the US first occupied Japan and has been festering ever since.
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US → date → Japan
Thanks to its strategic importance for staging operations and isolation from mainland Japan, the American military stayed on in Okinawa long after it had relinquished control of the rest of the country, with its military rule only ending in 1972.
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rule → stag → 1972
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
