Okinawa Killing of Woman Spurs Outrage and Renewed Tensions Over U.S. Bases

Okinawa police have arrested Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Futenma Air Station, on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, on Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack. Ballard denied the allegations, police said. The killing has drawn outrage in Okinawa and inflamed longstanding tensions over the military bases, which many locals see as a source of noise, pollution and violent crime.

Okinawa was under U.S. occupation from the Second World War until 1972. Today, it is home to 70 per cent of the U.S. military facilities based in Japan, and hosts 18,000 U.S. Marines. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the killing "an extremely brutal and vicious incident" and called on the U.S. to co-operate with the police investigation.

The number of U.S. military-related criminal cases on Okinawa rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to local police. But the history of violence by U.S. soldiers against women and girls goes back much further. In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three U.S. servicemen sparked mass protests. In 2013, two U.S. sailors pleaded guilty to the rape of a Japanese woman in Okinawa. In 2016, a worker on a U.S. air force base admitted to strangling Rina Shimabukuro, a 20-year-old woman whose body was found in undergrowth. In 2024, a U.S. Air Force member was charged with kidnapping and raping a teenager girl in Okinawa, and was later sentenced to five years in prison.

According to Mehr News, the incident has renewed calls for a review of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, where local residents have long demanded a reduction in the burden of hosting the bases.