Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, apologised yesterday for a string of crimes involving American troops based in Japan, amid warnings that failure to improve discipline risked damaging relations between Washington and one of its closest allies.
Resentment towards the US military presence erupted this month following the arrest of a marine for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the island of Okinawa, home to more than half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan.
Since then, US soldiers on the island have been arrested for trespassing and drink driving, and another is being questioned about the alleged rape of a Filipino woman in a hotel room.
The rape allegation has echoes of the 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen, which brought 85,000 people on to the streets in protest and international attention to the US base.
Rice, who was in Tokyo yesterday on an official visit, said: "We just regret deeply that this happened. [It] is very hard to see something like this happen and it's especially hard because it involves a young girl. We certainly hope that there will not be lasting effects. It's a long-standing and strong alliance."
The Japanese prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, called the alleged rape "unforgivable" and Shigeru Ishiba, the defence minister, warned that it could "shake the foundations" of the Japan-US alliance just as the two countries were cooperating to try to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
In an attempt to limit the diplomatic fallout, US military authorities imposed a 24-hour, indefinite curfew on 45,000 military personnel and their families, including the 10,000 who live off-base. They also agreed to review anti-sexual assault guidelines and improve education programmes for newly arrived service personnel.
The new commander of US forces in Japan, Lieutenant General Edward Rice, promised "zero tolerance" of crimes committed by his troops.
But critics said previous attempts to improve conduct had failed.
"This has been going on since the US began occupying our island decades ago," said Chie Miyagi, a schoolteacher and activist against the base. "The US military apologises and promises us that it won't happen again, but it always does. The government and the rest of Japan don't really care about how we feel. If it was their daughters who were being raped, I'm sure they would react differently."
Campaigners believe the marines on Okinawa will soon revert to their old ways once the curfew is lifted.
"When they arrive here they have no idea what this place is like, about its tragic history," said Suzuyo Takazato, head of a women's group that monitors crimes by US soldiers in Okinawa. "We live in fear of what they will do next. When they are caught they get off with light sentences. The message seems to be: if you want to rape a girl, do it in Japan."
Her anger is widely shared in Ginowan, the Okinawan city that is host to a sprawling marine corps air station. After the 1995 rape, in an attempt to relieve tension, the US and Japan agreed to relocate the air station to the island's sparsely populated north-eastern coast, but the plan is increasingly opposed by residents there.
The plan, scheduled for completion by 2014, would also see about 8,000 marines sent to Guam, a US territory in the Pacific about 3,700 miles south-west of Hawaii, in one of the biggest realignments of US troops for decades.
In 2004, a helicopter crashed into the main building of Okinawa International University in Ginowan and burst into flames. Residents fear another accident could happen, said Hitomi Taira, a base liaison official in Ginowan. "We also have to contend with emissions from aircraft and noise pollution, and we receive frequent reports of drink driving, robbery and trespassing," she said. "We want [the air station] moved immediately, but it should disappear from Okinawa altogether and the troops should be sent back to the US."
Okinawan businesses are feeling the pinch from the lockdown, which will be reviewed next week. Bars and nightclubs in the neighbourhood that would normally be packed with off-duty soldiers are virtually empty. "I need my Okinawan customers, of course, but without the military I wouldn't have a business," said Martin McIntyre, the owner of an Irish bar in the city. "My only worry is that when the curfew is finally lifted, someone is going to do something stupid."
Other residents believe the curfew to be an unjust punishment affecting tens
of thousands of law-abiding troops and their families. "It's not right to portray all American soldiers as potential criminals," said Hiroshi Matayoshi, a retired cargo handler who worked at the biggest local air force base for 35 years. "They're a long way from home and miss their families, but many people here refuse to see them as human beings. They just see a uniform and think the worst."
Backstory
Though it accounts for just 1% of Japan's total area, Okinawa is home to about 75% of US bases in Japan and half its 50,000 troops. Military facilities take up a fifth of the island.
Okinawa's subtropical location almost 1,000 miles south of Tokyo makes it a popular tourist destination, but between March and June 1945 it was the scene of a bloody battle in which an estimated 230,000 Americans and Japanese died, including more than a quarter of the civilian population. Japanese troops forced thousands of local people to commit suicide rather than surrender, claiming the Americans would rape and murder them. The island was not handed back to Japanese control until 1972
Despite efforts to promote exchange between islanders and their military guests, relations have been blighted by off-duty crimes, air pollution, noise and accidents.
