“As a woman living in Okinawa, I find myself thinking: It could be me next, or my daughter, my niece, or the young girls I care about.” Okinawa women rallied in front of the prefectural government building in the capital city of Naha Sunday night, demanding government action after US Marine Devin Jacob Ballard was arrested for his alleged role in the murder-robbery of Anna Yagi. Former House of Councillors member Keiko Itokazu slammed US military presence on the island as a leading cause of violence against women. “The reason we insist that US military bases in Okinawa must not be increased – and that no new bases should be built – is precisely because incidents like this happen,” Itokazu stated. “What do the Japanese and US governments intend to do with human lives? With our lives as women?” Growing local opposition to the US military presence on Okinawa has been fueled by a series of crimes over the years. High-profile cases include the 1995 abduction and rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by three US servicemen, and the 2016 rape and murder of a 20-year-old local woman, which sparked mass protests and led to a life sentence for a former US marine. More recently, in 2025, a US Marine was convicted of choking and sexually assaulting a Japanese woman. Japan hosts tens of thousands US military personnel, with the largest concentration based on Okinawa. Although Okinawa is one of Japan’s smallest prefectures by area, it contains 70% of the land used exclusively by the US military in the country. Okinawa is a critical site for the US’s architecture of containment surrounding China, sitting just 60 miles off the coast of Taiwan at its nearest point.

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