The resolution by lawmakers on Okinawa cannot be enforced, but it just shows that they will use any incident to make a political statement against the US military on Okinawa. What I find interesting though is that this statement calls for only the US Marines to withdraw and not any of the other services:
An aerial view of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa lawmakers have unanimously adopted a protest resolution calling for the U.S. Marine Corps to withdraw completely from the island prefecture after a U.S. base worker was arrested in the death of a 20-year-old woman.
Okinawa lawmakers unanimously adopted a protest resolution Thursday calling for the Marine Corps to withdraw completely from the island prefecture after a U.S. base worker was arrested in the death of a 20-year-old woman.
“Such a brutal act by a civilian military employee, who is a former Marine, was absolutely unacceptable,” says the prefectural assembly’s strongly worded declaration. It demands that all Marines leave the island that was returned to Japan from the U.S. post World War II military administration in 1972.
“Pains and sorrow of the family are immeasurable, and a torrent of anger is growing among people of Okinawa,” says the resolution, which was adopted during an emergency meeting by a majority from ruling parties that support anti-base Gov. Takeshi Onaga, while the opposition, including the Liberal Democratic Party, abstained.
The resolution also questions the effectiveness of preventive education by the U.S. military after past crimes by U.S. servicemembers, and demands a drastic reduction in the U.S. military presence on the island, the closure of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and the cancellation of a plan to move Futenma’s operations to Okinawa’s remote north. [Stars & Stripes]
I have heard the Okinawans also commit crimes on Okinawa. After the US military leaves, Okinawans should be forced to leave the island too.