Japanese police have arrested a U.S. Marine suspected of murdering a local woman in Okinawa Prefecture, while the U.S. ambassador expressed condolences and promised full cooperation.
On Sunday, 4 Oct 2026 GMT+7, a Japanese local police spokesperson told AFP that a U.S. Marine stationed on Okinawa Island in southern Japan was arrested as a suspect in the murder of a 39-year-old Japanese woman at a hotel in Naha city the previous day, and for stealing her wallet.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass posted on social media that he had spoken with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Okinawa’s governor to "express deepest condolences and pledge full cooperation in the ongoing investigation."
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi posted on X, describing the crime as "extremely brutal and violent."
Takaichi said the government has demanded that the U.S. "fully cooperate with the investigation, strictly enforce discipline among U.S. military personnel, and implement thorough measures to prevent similar crimes from happening again."
Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media, citing investigation sources, reported that CCTV near the scene showed a foreign man entering a hotel room with a woman and later leaving with her belongings.
NHK further reported that police found a 20-year-old man matching the suspect’s description from the CCTV footage and invited him voluntarily to a local police station before arresting him. However, he reportedly denies all charges.
The United States has about 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, most of whom are based on Okinawa Island.
However, repeated crimes by U.S. personnel—including rape, assault, hit-and-run, and drunk driving—have long caused dissatisfaction among Okinawa residents, leading to frequent protests. This issue also affects Japan-U.S. relations.
In 2025, a Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine to seven years in prison for choking and attempting to rape a woman around 20 years old.
Earlier, in 2017, a former U.S. Marine civilian employee at a naval base was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and murder of a pregnant local woman in Okinawa. That same year, the U.S. military in Japan banned all personnel from drinking alcohol after another Marine caused a fatal drunk-driving accident involving a 61-year-old truck driver.
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Source:cna