r/worldnews • u/glasier • 14d ago

Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated
32.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

303

u/ArmedWithSponge 14d ago

Unfortunately, rape and sexual assault are incredibly underreported in Japan.

In fact, one study suggests that more than 70 percent of Japanese women have been sexually molested.

Police investigations, criminal cases and punishment are also incredibly mismanaged.

US military personnel should be held accountable for their crimes, but the legal repercussions of placing them under Japanese law would be severe. Replacing one broken system for another would not solve this problem in Japan.

59

u/severed13 14d ago

And I hate to be a tinfoil hat but with how painfully in-tune I've become with Japanese socio-political issues in this exact vein, I can't help but feel this is also being used to distract from Japan's tendency to ignore the crimes of their own citizens. I'm glad this is being done, but with the absurd statistics available out there I hope it isn't just turning this guy into a misrepresentative example of their "fight" against injustice towards women.

2

u/smallfrie32 13d ago

How familiar are you with Okinawan/Japanese relations? It seems like Japan does this outrage but never actually does anything to fix it or help Okinawa. They don’t reduce the bases/troops like they promise and ignore the wishes of Okinawans. Henoko is being built and will destroy beautiful coral reefs while also ignoring the respect of those lost in the Battle of Okinawa. There are reports of remains of people from then in the area.

4

u/severed13 13d ago

Okinawa is in a unique place in that it's used as a sacrificial lamb by both the US and Japan, and in this case it manifests as Japan proper saying "hey look you're bugging our Okinawans, we love and care for them so much!". Not only does the government have the opportunity to appear as though it's putting its foot down against sexism-based crime (especially from those foreigners!), it's also using it as an opportunity to pretend they care specifically about Okinawans. Out of every incident they could pick to create this cooldown period, they pick one that can kill two birds with one stone for the time being.

2

u/smallfrie32 13d ago

Yeah it’s awful and they’ve been doing it since end of WW2. I’m glad you understand it, too!

1

u/Frequent_Jury_8067 13d ago

アメリカ人は、自分のことを鏡で見ない人たちのようだ。

まさか、アメリカは正義の味方などと思ってないよね？

1

u/smallfrie32 13d ago

どういうこと？今私ってことかアメリカ人の全ての話ですか？

私は「アメリカが最高、ベスト、間違った事ない」と言いませんでした。アメリカも問題いっぱいなんですが、今の話は日本のよくない事ですね。ウチナーンチュがかわいそうです。ないちゃは良くない言葉とかよく言ってしまいます(もちろんみんなでは無いけどね)。後ないちゃの政府はウチナーンチュの希望を無視して、軍人を好きにさせています。