The police station in Naha, Okinawa, is pictured on April 14, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
NAHA, Okinawa — Japanese police arrested two U.S. service members on Okinawa over the weekend in separate incidents — one on suspicion of breaking into a retirement home and the other of assaulting a Japanese man.
An airman from Kadena Air Base allegedly entered the retirement home in Naha’s Wakasa district around 7:50 a.m. Sunday, an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokeswoman said by phone Monday. He was arrested about an hour later, she said.
An employee found the airman asleep in a chair, slumped over a desk on the first floor, a Naha city police spokesman said by phone. Facility staff were unable to wake him and called police, the spokesman said. A worker had unlocked several doors at the facility around 6 a.m., he added.
The airman had a blood-alcohol content above 0.03% at the time of his arrest, the spokesman said. By comparison, the legal driving limit in all 50 U.S. states is 0.08%.
The 18th Wing acknowledged inquiries from Stars and Stripes on Monday but did not respond by the end of the business day.
The case remains under investigation.
In an unrelated incident, police arrested a Marine at 4:39 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of assaulting a 41-year-old Japanese man in Naha’s Makishi district.
The Marine is assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, wing spokesman Maj. Joseph Butterfield said by email Monday.
“We are fully cooperating with local authorities regarding this matter,” he wrote.
The Marine allegedly hit the man in the face and bit his left hand, causing a laceration and other injuries, the police spokeswoman said. The extent of the man’s injuries and recovery time remain unclear.
The Marine was reportedly fighting with “another foreigner,” who was not identified, when the Japanese man intervened, according to the Naha police spokesman.
The Marine declined to take a sobriety test at the scene, and the case is under investigation, the spokesman said.
Stars and Stripes is not identifying the service members because they have not been formally charged. Prosecutors, not police, decide charges under the Japanese justice system.
As of Monday afternoon, both men remained in custody at the Naha police station. Their cases were forwarded to the Naha Public Prosecutors Office, the police spokesman said.
Some Japanese government officials speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
The arrests come days before the U.S. military and Okinawa police are scheduled to resume joint patrols of Gate 2 Street in Okinawa City, a popular nightlife district that borders Kadena Air Base. The patrols, aimed at improving public safety, will begin Friday, according to U.S. Forces Japan.
The patrols — the first of their kind on Okinawa since 1974, according to the prefectural police — follow public outcry over one convicted and two alleged sexual assault cases involving U.S. service members last year.
