Protests in Okinawa follow alleged rape
Well the base protests started tonight following Monday’s alleged rape of a 14-year old Okinawan girl by a US marine, and will probably continue for a few weeks. Japanese media are reporting that she went to the guy’s house, but then when she said she wasn’t going to have sex with him he drove her to Araha Beach. They are even using the words “kidnap” and “abduction”, although there is no evidence of this whatsoever yet.
Fukuda has already said the act is unforgivable, and teachers at a junior high school in Chatan, where the alleged incident took place, have told students to never come to school unaccompanied and always stay with schoolmates. At least there is some sense in what’s happening though, with a local businessman quoted as saying: “I don’t think this incident will directly worsen local sentiment toward U.S. military bases, because it is a matter of personal integrity.”
I would definitely say that Japanese women and girls are difficult to age, especially within the 16-25 bracket, and even many in their late 20s and early 30s appear much younger than they are. Don’t think there have been any more statements as the police want to get their facts right before saying any more.
Ironically, this was in the news the day before the incident:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59767&archive=true
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