Japan eyes education programs for U.S. troops in Okinawa after recent robbery-murder

Tokyo/Naha – Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday that the Japanese government will enhance educational programs for U.S. troops in Okinawa following a robbery and murder allegedly involving a U.S. Marine in the prefecture last month.

The government will incorporate opinions of the prefecture into briefing materials provided to U.S. military personnel before their deployment to Japan.

The recurrence prevention measures were agreed by the Japanese government and U.S. forces in Japan. Among them are plans to promptly introduce lectures by the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s envoy for Okinawa and to launch a new educational program on Okinawa’s culture and history in fiscal 2027.

Japan and the United States will also increase the frequency and areas of their joint patrols in Okinawa.

“It’s important to take effective measures to prevent incidents,” Motegi said. “Japan wants to continue consultations with the United States.”

The U.S. Marine in question, deployed at a U.S. base in Okinawa, has been indicted for allegedly killing a woman in a guest room of a hotel in Naha, the capital of the prefecture, and stealing her belongings Oct. 3.

The U.S. military in Okinawa has said that it will extend its curfew, introduced in the wake of the robbery-murder case and imposed between midnight and 5 a.m., until Dec. 7 for lower-ranking military personnel in the prefecture. The measure will end for higher-ranking personnel on Sunday as scheduled.

But all personnel will be prohibited from drinking alcohol outside their residences after midnight through Dec. 7.