Thousands of Okinawans Attend Rally For Withdrawal of US Military Bases

This is yet another example that Okinawa has turned into South Korea circa 2002:

An overflow crowd of some 65,000 people packed a sports stadium Sunday to demand that U.S. forces leave Okinawa and drop a plan to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a more remote area on the island.

Similar demonstrations were also scheduled in 41 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. More than 7,000 people gathered outside the Japanese parliament building in Tokyo to join the demand for a U.S. pullout and to bash Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

A recent rash of crimes, including the slaying of a 20-year-old woman that has been linked to a U.S. civilian base worker, have tapped into Okinawa resentment over the disproportionate number of U.S. troops here, compared with the rest of Japan, and a sense of abandonment and betrayal by the central government even after it regained control of the island in 1972.

With U.S. servicemembers, family members and others with SOFA status strongly encouraged to avoid the protest area, Gov. Takeshi Onaga called for a total withdrawal of Marines.

“I will never forgive the inhumane and brutal act that trampled women’s human rights. I am indignant,” said Onaga, who won election on an anti-base platform.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but it is interesting that the anti-US base Governor is only calling for an end to the US Marine presence on the island.  It would be interesting statistic to see if the Marines really do cause more crime than the other service branches on Okinawa?  It has already been shown that the US military overall commits far less crime per capita than the local population, but of course none of this matters to activists looking to use any crime they can to advance their political agenda.  It is an impossibility for such a large population of US military servicemembers on Okinawa to be completely crime free which means the activists will continue to find incidents to protest.