Japan asks US military to prevent accidents on Okinawa

Japan has urged the United States to take safety measures to protect Japanese civilians against harm from potential US military accidents on the southern island of Okinawa, where a US military base is located and where several accidents have recently occurred.

On Monday, a US helicopter made an emergency landing on the grounds of a hotel on Okinawa. The incident was the second of its kind in three days. On Saturday, a US transport helicopter had landed on an Okinawan beach because of a faulty rotor.

In December last year, a 10-year-old boy suffered minor injuries after a window fell from a US CH-53E transport helicopter onto a school sports field on the southern island.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said he had called on the US to prevent the recurrence of such incidents during a morning telephone call with his American opposite number, James Mattis.

“We are asking the United States to take thorough measures,” he said.

Japanese media said that Mattis had apologized for the latest incident.

Onodera further said that he would repeat the call during his upcoming meeting with US Pacific Commander Harry Harris scheduled for later this week.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga made a similar call, stressing, “These accidents, which create fear on the part of local residents, must not happen.”

Public anxiety is already high on Okinawa over the presence of US military personnel.

US forces in Japan have a long history of unruly behavior, which together with other reasons, has prompted the majority of the Japanese population to demand their exit.

Numerous anti-US protests have been held in the country, particularly in Okinawa, where some 30,000 US military personnel are stationed.

In April 2016, a US Marine deployed at the Okinawa air base was charged with the murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman. Back in 2013, two American sailors admitted to raping a woman in Okinawa a year earlier in a case that sparked huge anti-US sentiments in Japan.

In 1995, the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen triggered massive protests, prompting Washington to pledge efforts to strengthen troop discipline to prevent such crimes and reduce US footprint on the island.

Since surrendering in World War II on August 15, 1945, and under a peace agreement, Japan has given US forces stationed in the country the right to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over its own forces.

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