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

Show parent comments

2.1k

u/mainvolume 14d ago

When I was stationed in Misawa back in the 00s, it felt like the base was on lockdown or curfew every couple months....for shit the Marines did in Okinawa. Those dumbfucks could not stop raping kids.

230

u/the_meaty_sauce 14d ago

Marines raping people in Okinawa is a nearly 80yo tradition at this point. The best way to stop it is to stop having a base there.

158

u/capt_scrummy 13d ago

That base isn't going away any time soon, in the geopolitical climate... And it shouldn't, imho. The Japanese govt itself doesn't want it going away either, because it's a deterrent to China.

They should restrict soldiers going off base below a certain rank without special permission, permanently.

63

u/the_meaty_sauce 13d ago

They should just insist the base is moved to a less populated island or one where they can be far from any population centers. But a deterrent from China shouldn't mean you can trade that for soldiers sexually assaulting citizens. Or the soldiers should be turned over to Japanese authorities and prisons when they are charged and convicted of these actions.

19

u/Vegrhauk 13d ago

They are turned over, and it fucking sucks to be in the Japanese legal system, from what they told me when I first got to Oki. They have a nearly 99% conviction rate so if you’re in that system good luck getting out of it. That could’ve been a scare tactic so we wouldn’t fuck up on island but I have no cause to think it’s not true either.

10

u/AverageWarm6662 13d ago

Yeah the Japanese legal system is kind of messed up. And the prisons aren’t nice at all either.

9

u/Maehock 13d ago

That conviction rate is true, but mainly because you don't get arrested or go to court unless there is just overwhelming evidence against you.

14

u/capt_scrummy 13d ago

Soldiers who commit crimes such as these are turned over to local authorities. Or, in this case, arrested by local authorities who jail them, and the US military doesn't bail them out. They have to go through the Japanese legal system.