THE issue of crimes committed by US Army personnel in Japan has taken a quite serious dimension, following the rape of a woman in Okinawa on June 29. So much so that the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives (lower house of Japanese parliament) felt compelled to unanimously adopt a resolution on July 10, calling on the government to consider reviewing the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

The resolution was the first ever of its kind adopted by a committee of the Diet (Japanese parliament). Referring to the recent rape case in Okinawa, the resolution stated that measures like tougher discipline and education of its personnel, which the US promised every time such incidents occurred, have failed to work.

The resolution pointed out that 523 felony crimes were committed by US military personnel in Okinawa during 27 years since 1972, when the US returned the administrative rights over Okinawa to Japan. Then it said the central government is responsible for protection of the lives and human rights of the local residents against the incidents that derive from the existence of US bases in Japan.

Foreign minister Tanaka Makiko was asked to reply whether the number and personnel strength of the US bases in Okinawa should not be reduced as a means to prevent the US soldiers’ crimes. The minister in reply said: "Maintaining the Japan-US Security Treaty is the government policy." Thus he indicated that the government is reluctant to go in for a revision of the SOFA and reduction of US bases in Okinawa.

But the mass mood in Japan is building up in favour of a revision of the SOFA (under which the US maintains bases in the country) and of an effective reduction in the number and personnel of the US bases in Japan.

This is evident from the series of protest actions that are taking place all over Japan, and particularly in Okinawa, against the June 29 rape case. (See People’s Democracy, July 8 for the crime’s details.) About 6000 women held a rally in Chatan town in Okinawa prefecture on July 7, in protest against the June 29 rape of a young woman in the town by a US Air Force Staff sergeant stationed at the US’s Kadena air base. The protesters also criticised the prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s failure to raise the issue in the Japan-US summit meeting. The protest rally was organised by women’s associations in Chatan.

Addressed to the Japanese and US governments and the US military, the rallyists adopted a resolution presenting their demands. They demanded that the US apologise to the victim, that both governments make an overall review of the SOFA about the stationing of US forces in Japan, and that they reduce the US bases and personnel in the country and in Okinawa in particular.

Chatan town’s mayor Hentona Choichi also took part in the rally, and said, "If we want no more such incidents by US personnel, the SOFA’s revision is the key. Let’s unite to get the Japanese government and the US accept our demand."

The rally was also addressed by Tamanaha Yoshiko (chairperson of joint forum of women’s associations in Chatan), Akamine Chizu (Okinawa prefectural federation of regional women associations), and a member of the Parents-Teachers Association.

A mother said women working late into night are always afraid of being attacked. Kawabata Miwako, a girl student of Chatan High School, said Okinawa’s high school students will appeal to the public to defend peace and human rights.

Another women’s rally took place on July 9 in Naha city in Okinawa at the call of the Women’s Voices Network and the Okinawa Women’s Action. Here the rallyists chanted, "We Won’t Tolerate It Any More!" and "Okinawa Rejects All Bases!" Further protests are in the offing to make the government change its negative policy toward SOFA review, a woman said.

Women members of the prefectural and city assemblies in Okinawa also took part in the rally. They included Tamaki Nobuko, a prefectural assembly member on the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) ticket.

In the meantime, on July 6, the United States agreed to hand over to Japan the US soldier accused of the said rape in Chatan town. Staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 24, was arrested on the same day --- four days after an arrest warrant was issued. The Japanese government has also initiated a criminal proceeding against the accused, and the case is being keenly watched all over Japan. Whether the LPD-led coalition government will pursue the case to its logical conclusion or buckle under US pressure sooner or later, compromising behind the back of the people, is a question being widely debated today.

Earlier, JCP secretariat chief Ichida Tadayoshi told reporters that the prime minister’s statement "was irresponsible." He said: "The incident has enraged Okinawans and the whole nation. It is a serious matter that the prime minister cautioned the nation not to be too bitter and asked Okinawans to calm down, thus standing by the US side." He was referring to the prime minister’s statement before departing for the US on the same day when the rape took place in early morning.

The JCP leader warned the people: "The crimes committed by US military personnel will never be eradicated unless US bases are removed from Okinawa. But even before that, the Japanese government must stand firm in changing the current environment that gives US forces freedom to trample upon the human rights of the Japanese people and threaten their lives and security."

Tadayoshi demanded that the Japanese government "fundamentally revise the humiliating Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement which gives the US forces and their personnel extra-territorial rights."

Not to talk of their past crimes (many of them have been detailed in these columns earlier), the US Army personnel stationed in Japan committed the following crimes in the first six months of this year alone.

9: A marine sergeant lifts up a high school girl’s skirt in Kin town.

14: A staff member of a US Navy hospital hits a woman bar owner. A marine sets bars and restaurants in Chatan town on fire on the same day.

20: The same marine commits other arson attacks in the district. Five stores are burnt down.

26: US college students living at Kadena air base set fire to three cars after spraying gasoline at three spots in Sashiki town.

8: Rifle-carrying marines strut around in Naha city.

17: A US Army Staff sergeant breaks the windshield wiper of a civilian car and kicks a prefectural police car. He was caught red-handed in the act of damaging property.

19: A marine shoots plastic bullets at two Japanese base workers who were delivering pizzas inside US Camp Courtney.

26: A US marine driver scrapes a car (which he stole) into a police car and runs away.

8: A marine officer’s car hits two Japanese boys riding a motorcycle, and runs away.

23: US Air Force staff sergeants steal a car TV at a car supply shop in Chatan town.

29: A US Air Force staff sergeant commits a sexual assault on a woman in Chatan. This is the case referred to earlier in the story.

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