[gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Dec/14/https---www.voanews.com-a-us-marines-start-partial-transfer-from-japan-s-okinawa-to-guam-7901262.html](gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Dec/14/https---www.voanews.com-a-us-marines-start-partial-transfer-from-japan-s-okinawa-to-guam-7901262.html)
RE: the last paragraph. When I lived in Japan in the 1990s, a Marine and US Navy sailor in Okinawa raped a girl about 12 years old. I was working as an elementary school teacher at the time, and everyone knew I was a Navy veteran. Imagine how I felt.
Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.
US Marines start partial transfer from Japan's Okinawa to Guam
by Associated Press
TOKYO --
The partial transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam began on
Saturday, 12 years after Japan and the United States agreed on their
realignment to reduce the heavy burden of American troop presence on
the southern Japanese island, officials said.
The relocation started with 100 members of III Marine Expeditionary
Force stationed on Okinawa moving to the Pacific island for the initial
logistical work, the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan's Defense Ministry
said in a joint statement.
Under the plan agreed between Tokyo and Washington in April 2012, about
9,000 of the 19,000 Marines currently stationed on Okinawa are to be
moved out of Okinawa, including about 4,000 of them to be moved to the
U.S. territory Guam in phases. Details, including the size and timing
of the next transfer, were not immediately released.
The Marine Corps is committed to the defense of Japan and meeting
operational requirements to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and
it will maintain presence in the region "through a combination of
stationing and rotating Marines in Japan, Guam and Hawaii," the joint
statement said.
Japan has paid up to $2.8 billion for the building of infrastructure at
the U.S. bases on Guam, and the United States will fund the remaining
costs. The two governments will continue to cooperate on the
development of Camp Blaz, which will serve as the main installation for
Marines stationed in Guam.
The Marines and Japan Self Defense Forces will conduct joint training
in Guam, the statement said.
Okinawa, which was under U.S. postwar occupation until 1972, is still
home to a majority of the more than 50,000 American troops based in
Japan under a bilateral security pact, while 70% of U.S. military
facilities are on Okinawa, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese
land.
Many Okinawans have long complained about the heavy U.S. military
presence on the island and say Okinawa faces noise, pollution, aircraft
accidents and crime related to American troops.
The relocation is likely to be welcomed by residents, but how much
improvement they will feel is uncertain because of the rapid Japanese
military buildup on Okinawan islands as a deterrence to threats from
China.
The start of the Marines relocation comes at a time of growing
anti-U.S. military sentiment following a series of sexual assault cases
involving American servicemembers.
On Thursday, a senior Air Force servicemember belonging to the Kadena
Air Base was convicted of the kidnapping and sexual assault of a
teenage girl last year, a case that triggered outrage on the island.
The Naha District Court sentenced him to five years in prison.
#us-navy #us-military #bases #okinawa #japan #usa #military #日本 #沖縄 #guam
