First Lt. Aivree Kamalzadeh of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit verifies liberty cards and driving documents on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, July 19, 2024. (Megan Roses/U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Members of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly visited Tokyo on Friday to file protest and petition letters addressing two U.S. service members’ recent indictments on sexual assault charges.
A seven-member delegation led by Ryotaro Odo flew to the capital that morning and delivered the letters to the U.S. Embassy, Japanese Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a spokesman for Okinawa Prefecture’s Political Affairs Research Division said by phone Monday.
The delegation met with U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to Japan Katherine Monahan, Japan Cabinet Secretariat Councilor Masaya Tanaka, Japan Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense Hisashi Matsumoto and Japan State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshifumi Tsuge, the spokesman said.
“They filed the petition and protest letters and exchanged opinions,” the spokesman said. Some Japanese officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
Monahan told the delegation the U.S. will take measures to prevent future cases, and will announce additional measures in the coming days, Odo told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.
Senior Airman Brennon R.E. Washington pleaded not guilty July 12 in Naha District Court to charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor in December. The March indictment was revealed publicly in June, setting off protests from Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki and the prefectural assembly.
In a second indictment also revealed in June, Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton was charged with attempting to sexually assault a woman in Yomitan village in May.
Two formal letters — one a protest, the other a petition — were approved by the prefectural assembly July 10. The petition calls on the U.S. government to take measures to prevent further incidents, and to apologize to and compensate the girl and the woman identified by police as victims.
The committee also requested that Japan and the U.S. “drastically revise” the status of forces agreement governing U.S. military and civilian personnel in the country, saying it privileges U.S. military members.
Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and III Marine Expeditionary Force commander Lt. Gen. Roger Turner wrote an opinion piece calling for “one set of liberty time rules across all branches of the armed forces.”
A Foreign Affairs official admitted to the delegation that the ministry was responsible for stopping information about the cases from going public, and that it will disclose information as necessary from now on, Odo said.
“All the officials we met recognized the problem, and we could discuss countermeasures,” Odo said. “I could feel that they were working to solve the problems. I’d like to watch attentively and see if these measures will work for future cases.”
In response, the Marine Corps has ramped up sobriety checks at gates to almost 100% the past two weekends and increased courtesy patrols by the Provost Marshal’s Office at popular destinations.
Several people with blood-alcohol content over Japan’s 0.03% legal limit were stopped July 12-13, Marine Corps Installations Pacific spokesman Capt. Brett Dornhege-Lazaroff said by phone Friday, without providing an exact number. No further information was available Monday, he said.
Emanuel, in an X post on Saturday, praised Turner and III MEF for “quickly implementing a series of new and heightened measures that reinforce expected standards of behavior and discipline for all [U.S.] personnel.”
“Our Japanese hosts, allies, and friends expect — and deserve — nothing less,” he wrote. “And we will deliver.”
