US Military Crime Rate On Okinawa Well Below Civilian Average, But Activists Don’t Care

The situation on Okinawa reminds me so much of the post-2002 environment in South Korea during the Roh Moo-hyun administration years when anti-Americanism was very popular.  It was so bad that US soldiers were being kidnapped off the subway and forced to make false confession on national TV.  Fortunately Okinawa hasn’t gotten that bad yet, but it is pretty clear that the US military on Okinawa is in a no win situation:

Every time a U.S. servicemember commits a crime in Okinawa, it’s big news.

If it’s a serious offense — such as the recent alleged slaying of a 20-year-old Okinawa woman by a former Marine — it can spark large protests by those who want the American military footprint on the island prefecture to shrink, if not disappear completely.

Over the years, the U.S. military has imposed a number of measures, such as curfews, sensitivity training and limits to off-base drinking, that have significantly reduced the rate of crime among the 50,000 American servicemembers, their families and Defense Department civilian employees.

But no matter what efforts U.S. makes to tamp down the anti-base sentiment, it may be facing a no-win situation. For many Okinawans, every crime is an affront that symbolizes resentment over the disproportionately large U.S. military presence on Okinawa and the prefecture’s complicated relationship with the rest of the country.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga won election last year on an anti-base platform, and he subsequently launched a court battle that has stalled relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from busy Ginowan to the less-populated north.

Onaga has used U.S. crimes committed on the island to further fuel the fire, expressing indignation that the military’s efforts haven’t wiped out misbehavior completely, although it’s unclear what more can be done short of banning all U.S. servicemembers and civilian workers from ever leaving their bases.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the article goes on to explain how the crime rate for the US military is well below the civilian average on Okinawa despite having a high number of young males that statistics show commit the most crime and yet things appear to be getting worse.  That is because even if everyone was locked down on post the governor and the activists will never be happy because their ultimate goal is removal of US forces not better behavior.

I really do not see things improving on Okinawa until the planned relocation of 5,000 Marines from the island to Guam happens in the next few years.  If this is combined in a change in government in Okinawa this could lead to better civil-military relations on Okinawa much like we have seen now in South Korea.