U.S. sailor arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Japan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani answers a reporter’s question about the arrest of an American sailor on suspicion of drunken driving causing an accident on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, in Singapore Sunday, June 5, 2016.
TOKYO >> An American sailor was arrested Sunday on suspicion of drunken driving causing an accident on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, where public anger has run high over crimes by U.S. military personnel.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, assigned to Kadena base in Okinawa, was arrested after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles late Saturday, said police spokesman Takashi Shirado. She was not injured but two people in the other cars were injured, one in the arm and the other in the chest, he said.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke with U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy about the arrest, with Kishida asking the U.S. do more to prevent a recurrence, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kennedy offered her regrets to the family of those injured, the ministry said. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Protests are common on the island, where residents feel they are being forced with an unfair burden of housing the U.S. troops under a bilateral security agreement.
American military personnel are under a midnight curfew and off-base drinking is banned through later this month in Okinawa after a former U.S. Marine who worked on an American military base was arrested after he led police to a woman’s body. He is being held on suspicion of abandoning the body, while police investigate.
The suspected murder of the woman was such a critical issue it came up during President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Japan. Obama offered his condolences and promised that the U.S. would fully cooperate to have the man prosecuted under Japanese law.
Japan and the U.S. have been working together to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps air station from a densely populated neighborhood in central Okinawa to another part of the island, but the project has repeatedly been delayed. Protesters are demanding that the facility be moved off Okinawa.
In March, a sailor was arrested on charges of raping a Japanese woman. A 1995 rape of a schoolgirl in which three U.S. servicemen were convicted set off widespread outrage. Although sexual crimes are especially sensitive, people in Okinawa say car accidents are also a problem, because sometimes the driver will flee back into the base grounds in a hit-and-run, making prosecution difficult.
18 responses to “U.S. sailor arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Japan”
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So what if “Obama offered his condolences and promised that the U.S. would fully cooperate to have the man prosecuted under Japanese law?” Of course the man will be prosecuted under Japanese law and why not? He is not a member of the US military community and is not subject to the Status of Forces Agreement. He is a FORMER marine living in Okinawa as a legal resident of Japan. Although he worked on a US military base, he was employed by a civilian contractor and is not subject to the Status of Forces Agreement. Obama’s statement is meaningless.
Well, certainly in Iraq and Afghanistan no “civilian contractors” have ever managed to sneak through the net and avoid local prosecution under local laws. That’s never ever happened, nosirree!
The writer should probably avoid calling Okinawa “Japan’s southern island”. Okinawans still aren’t too happy about Japan’s 1879 annexation (just as Hawaiians still aren’t too happy about America’s 1893 annexation of the kingdom). And they have reason (just as we do) because for so many years they’ve been treated like the red-haired stepchild in their own land.
The attention being given to an American service member being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and causing an accident is being overblown by the media. The attention should be given to the real problem on Okinawa, that being the rate of fatal accidents related to drinking and driving by Okinawans being the worst in Japan in 2013 and 2014. According to police statistics, DUI was a factor in nine of the total fatal accidents on Okinawa or 26.5 percent of cases in 2014. That was about four times higher than the national average of 6.7 %. Unfortunately, the media does not make a big deal out of such incidents except when an American involved.
http://www.japanupdate.com/2015/03/okinawan-drivers-still-worst-dui-offenders-in-japan/
Mahalo for the perspective. My first thought upon reading this was why was it front page “Top Story” news?
So the Okinawans should just suck it up and put up with rape too right?
It’s that way everywhere. When foreigners commit a crime, it is bigger news than normal.
If I’m following the case correctly:
1. There was a rape/murder committed there by a base employee. 2. After the murder, the U.S. military powers that be on Okinawa instituted a curfew. All servicemen and women were/are(?) forbidden to stay out past midnight or drink alcohol off base. 3. Now, two weeks later — and a couple of months after an American sailor there raped a tourist — here is this American sailor who broke both rules, got into a traffic accident and injured two civilians.
That’s probably why it’s news.
You are not following the case correctly. There was a murder committed by a FORMER marine who is a legal resident of Japan who was residing with his Okinawan wife. He was employed by a civilian contractor that provided services to US military installations, but he was not a base employee. He was not a member of the US military community and was not subject to the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement. He was 100% under Japanese laws and jurisdiction. Stories about the murder make it appear like the guy was a member of the US military, but he was not. Unfortunately, the Lt General in command on Okinawa has over-reacted to local protests about the murder and has placed restrictions on US military personnel as some form of mourning while Okinawans and visitors from the main Japanese Islands are out having a ball.
You know, I think I’ll have to agree with you on that …on paper, anyway.
Still, the Lt. General in command understands that public perception is going to be that if he’s American and works on base and an ex-marine to boot, he’s “one of them.” No base -> no facilities -> no military contractors -> no job -> no Kenneth Shinzato working on the base. It’s the presence of the base they object to after all.
Add the two other incidents by active duty sailors and you get a level of indignation that would be present in any county including ours I suspect.
When Trump is president we won’t have to worry about US troops in Japan anymore.
That’s right. Japan is going to have to suck it up and start defending themselves. If they want The US to stay it’s going to cost them. And maybe some arigatos wouldn’t hurt.
Lespark, it may surprise you to learn that Japan spends about 190 billion yen annually to support US bases in Japan. That is about $177 billion at the current exchange rate. How much more do you think Japan should pay? http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/22/national/tokyo-washington-sign-pact-to-continue-japans-support-for-u-s-military-bases/#.V1UUo5F97IV
In my opinion, the Japanese government has NEVER properly atoned nor apologized to the MILLIONS of innocent civilians who were brutally murdered, tortured, enslaved, starved, and repeatedly raped during their aggressive campaign during WWII in Asia and the Pacific. Their complaints of American service members’ crimes are met with incredulity by me. We should pull out of Japan and let them, once and for all, assume the burden and expense of protecting their shores from the seething revenge so viciously sought after by China. Japan needs to be careful what it wishes for. They just might get it.
Carang….there you go again!!! As they say, hatred will only make YOU sick.
So, according to you the young lady must have deserved it.
Time for the US to leave Okinawa.
Why are we still there?
BREAKING NEWS. US military leaders in Japan have gone nuts. The Commander of US Naval Forces in Japan has prohibited the drinking of alcoholic beverages on and off base anywhere in Japan until further notice. This is what was called MASS PUNISHMENT in the brown shoe army.