The alleged killing could complicate Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen Japanese military defense on the island and to work more closely with the U.S. military to deter China in the region.
Okinawa prefectural police said they arrested Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Futenma Air Station, on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the island’s capital city of Naha early Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.
Security camera footage showed a man wearing a black top, trousers and white sneakers entering the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone.
Ballard was arrested when a patrolling officer saw him walking later Saturday in an entertainment district in Okinawa City, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Naha. His shaved head and the tattoos on his arms matched those of the man in security footage, Kyodo news agency reported.
There has been anger over increasing crime linked to the U.S. military on the island. The number of U.S. military-related criminal cases rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to prefectural police.
Why do US Marines in Okinawa keep misbehaving? Like this is happening all the time. What’s so difficult about NOT killing and raping civilians? It shouldn’t be that difficult.
Yeah, that’s why I included that snippet about the huge increase in crimes among US servicemen in Japan in this last year.
It’s definitely getting worse, owing to fractured incompetent leadership more than anything else.
It was enabled, facikitated for so long it became culture. Oppressors.
You know that thing, where, if a member of an ethnicity does something, the whole ethnicity gets blamed?
Surprise! White Americans aren’t exempt. Japan’s pretty racist at the best of times, but it’s going to be extra, if you match that description, for a while.
Although building on that, I think the “Mainland” Japanese have been pretty content to have the Americans corralled on one little island (Post WW2, it was bases on the home islands that were shut down), with their easily othered country-cousins the Okinawans being the ones who have to deal with the American troops day-to-day, many of whom are dumb kids on their first tour. I can guarantee you that neither my dad in the 60s nor my brother in the 90s was interested in good-faith cultural exchange while stationed there with the Marines.
There are still plenty of US Navy bases on the Japanese home islands. SRF Yokosuka, Sasebo, and NAS Iwakuni spring to mind
Yes, but literally three quarters of the US presence is on Okinawa. Just saying I think Tokyo is okay with that, as they get a the full military force multiplier with, from their perspective, a 75% discount on awful American behavior because the Ryukus are physically isolated and culturally distinct.
Throw the fucking book at this dude, Japan.
If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.
Murder-robbery may fall into first degree.
I find it very likely that a US serviceman murdered Anna Yagi.
Without seeing how unique the tattoos on his arm are, I don’t know how confident I would be that David Ballard is the serviceman who murdered her.
