U.S. Marine arrested in Japan, accused of killing Japanese woman in Okinawa

A U.S. Marine stationed in Japan's southern island of Okinawa was arrested following the death of a Japanese woman, local police said on Sunday. Japan lodged a strong protest with the U.S. and demanded maximum cooperation with the investigation.

Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media outlets, citing investigation sources, reported that CCTV footage from near the scene showed a foreign man entering a room with a woman and later leaving with her belongings.

Police then found a 20-year-old man who matched the description of the suspect seen in the footage and asked him to accompany them voluntarily to a local police station, where he was arrested, NHK reported.

"We have lost a family member and are deeply saddened. My parents, in particular, are utterly devastated at the loss of their daughter," the woman's brother said through local police, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper.

"We extend our sincere condolences to the victim's family," the embassy said on social media.

George Glass, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, said on social media that he has spoken with Japan's foreign ministry and Okinawa's governor, offering "our sincere condolences and pledging full cooperation as the investigation continues."

Takaichi said Japan had lodged a protest with U.S. authorities and called the crime "exceptionally brutal and vicious."

"The occurrence of the heinous crime is extremely regrettable," Takaichi said in her message on social media.

The U.S. Marine Corps said in a statement to the AP that the suspect is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa and that it is fully cooperating with Japanese authorities.

The U.S. has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, which the U.S. held from the end of World War II until 1972.

"Incidents and accidents involving U.S. military personnel cause great anxiety among the local community and must not be allowed to happen," Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said.

Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.