Riyaz ul Khaliq
05 October 2026•Update: 05 October 2026
Japan on Monday called on the US to “thoroughly enforce discipline” among its soldiers deployed in the country, amid protests over a murder-robbery case allegedly involving a US Marine.
“Japan and the United States will work together to thoroughly prevent a recurrence,” the Japanese government's top spokesman, Minoru Kihara, told reporters in Tokyo.
The statement came after a US Marine Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, was arrested by Japanese police on Sunday over alleged robbery and murder of a local woman in southernmost Okinawa, which hosts bulk of some 50,000 US soldiers deployed in Japan under a defense treaty.
He was arrested a day after the alleged murder of Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the prefectural capital Naha on Saturday.
Ballard was sent to prosecutors on Monday, but he has denied the charges, according to Kyodo News.
The incident caused outrage in Okinawa and outside with Japanese foreign and defense ministries summoning US ambassador as well as commander of US Forces in Japan.
According to Jiji Press, some 100 people held protests outside the Okinawa prefectural government building on Sunday.
“How much longer do we have to bear all of this?" the protesters asked.
Tokyo has protested to the US at “various levels,” said Kihara, who is minister in charge of mitigating the impact of US forces in Okinawa, which has seen many crimes involving American forces, angering natives.
Tokyo will "continue to urge the US side to thoroughly enforce discipline” among its soldiers in Japan, said Kihara.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said it was "extremely regrettable" that such a crime had occurred and lodged "strong protest" over the incident.
Japan has called for "full cooperation" of the US with the investigation and "strict discipline among US military personnel" to prevent a recurrence, Takaichi told a parliament session on Monday.
Joining the Sunday protests against the incident, a woman in her 40s said: “I feel it's a contradiction that a serviceman stationed at a US military base in Okinawa to protect Japan has killed a civilian.”
George Edward Glass, US ambassador to Japan, said he was speaking with US military commanders “about how we continue to hold our American service members to the very highest levels of discipline and integrity.”
Glass said he discussed with Okinawa-based Marine Air Ground Task Force commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson "our next steps in strengthening that bond of trust with our Japanese partners and base-hosting communities," according to a statement on US social media platform X.
