NY Daily News – March 15, 2016 – Japanese police collared an American sailor Sunday for the alleged rape of a Japanese tourist on on the island of Okinawa.
Navy serviceman Justin Castellanos, 24, is accused of taking a woman — who was visiting Okinawa from the Japanese island of Kyushu — to his hotel room in the Okinawan capital of Naha, according to police.
Castellanos, who is based at Camp Schwab in the town of Henoko, has denied the charge according to The Japan Times.
“It was a serious crime in violation of women’s human rights and can never be tolerated,” Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said at a press conference Monday.
The incident could “pose a significant impact on tourism,” he continued.
“It was extremely regrettable that this case happened,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
Police say that Castellanos found the woman, who was staying at the same hotel, asleep in the hallway before taking her back to his room.
The Japanese government is demanding that the U.S. “tighten discipline” and has now lodged a complaint with the U.S. Embassy and U.S. forces in Japan.
EUO 3TP MNDTY JPNOUT
Crimes committed by U.S. servicemen have been an ongoing concern in Okinawa, where some 25,000 U.S. troops are stationed, according to The Military Times.
In 1995, three servicemen were convicted of kidnapping and gang raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl, a crime that ignited large-scale protests and prompted the U.S. to reduce its military presence on the island.
In 2008, a Marine was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old and within weeks other servicemen were arrested for drunk driving.
In the aftermath of those incidents, the U.S. military imposed a curfew on military personnel and families and Condoleezza Rice, then secretary of state, apologized to the island nation, according to The Guardian.
In 2013, two Navy reserve members were sentenced to prison time for stalking and raping a Japanese woman they met at a bar.
This month, the U.S. and Japan have resumed negotiations over a long-debated plan to relocate an Okinawa marine air base to a less populous part of the island.