Japanese leader calls woman

A woman's murder allegedly committed by a U.S. Marine in Okinawa is a "heinous crime," Japan's premier said on Monday, as the new accusation of violence involving American forces sparked public outrage.

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.

His shaved head and the tattoos on his arms matched those of the man in security footage, Kyodo news agency reported.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers the government has lodged a strong protest with the United States, urging its "full cooperation with the investigation" and "strict discipline among U.S. military personnel."

Okinawa native Sorane Sakihama, 24, who organized a similar rally in Tokyo on Sunday, said she cried upon learning about the woman's death.

"I want to ask them — what are these soldiers stationed here for? They might say they are here to protect lives or boost security. But how can they say that when a life was taken by their own?"

News of the Marine's arrest immediately prompted Japan's foreign affairs and defense ministers to summon senior U.S. officials to convey their "extreme disappointment" and "lodge strong protests," Kihara said.

Koja, 42, accepts a central government plan to keep the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base on Okinawa's main island, but to move it to a less populated location.

Koja said he will travel to Tokyo "soon" to lodge a protest with top government officials, including Takaichi.

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said on social media that he is telling U.S. military commanders this week they need "to hold our American service members to the very highest levels of discipline and integrity." He also said that he and Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, discussed the "next steps in strengthening that bond of trust with our Japanese partners and base-hosting communities."

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.

In 2017, a former U.S. Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa.