Another rape on Okinawa

[groovewonder]

Has anybody found any english information about the latest rape to have supposedly taken place on Okinawa? I can't find any anywhere! Maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places, but I'd like to catch up with the story. A US military member supposedly raped a girl on Okinawa during late May. Any information would be appreciated. Supposedly it has made it to the TV news in America, but I have yet to even see anything about it in Okinawa. Usually the internet gets the news before anything else, but I guess I'm just having bad luck this time. Thanks.

[GuyJean]

Usually the internet gets the news before anything else.

It's a couple days old:
Okinawa police question U.S. Marine over alleged rape
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030612/kyodo/d7rk25m80.html

Via News on Japan:
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/morenews/Society_News/

GJ

[groovewonder]

Thanks Guy. I appreciate it. So, this guy has already confessed? That didn't take long!

[American Oyaji]

This story wasn't reported at all here in the states.

This is the first I've heard of it. Well, At least it wasnt reported on CNN or anything.

[groovewonder]

On a message board that I run, one of my visitors posted the following message:

Well...I am in the USA but CNN is carrying the story of yet another mindless Marine bringing disgrace upon the USA by rape incident. I feel they should simply turn the dirtbag over to his fellow Marines and have "modify his behavior," because legal avenues and cultural sensitivity classes certainly aren't much of a deterent. Another "black eye" for the Marine Corps - how sad!!

[American Oyaji]

Maybe the story is just running today then.

[groovewonder]

Well, if it does come out that the guy was guilty, the shit is going to hit the fan out here in Okinawa again. If that happens, I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this case, but it sounds like he pleaded guilty, so get ready. Stupid f*cking jarhead.

[jez]

http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=2&id=263104
un-confessed...

[Jack]

I am puzzled. He punched the woman and then had consensual sex with her? Or he had consensual sex and then he punched her? I don't know about others but when I have sex with a woman I don't punch her in the face.

[Caustic Saint]

I am puzzled. He punched the woman and then had consensual sex with her? Or he had consensual sex and then he punched her? I don't know about others but when I have sex with a woman I don't punch her in the face.

Well of course not! That's not the proper way to to "donkey punch" somebody.

[Taro Toporific]

I am puzzled. He punched the woman and then had consensual sex with her? Or he had consensual sex and then he punched her? I don't know about others but when I have sex with a woman I don't punch her in the face.

U.S. Marine Pleads Guilty to Rape in Okinawa
Thu July 24, 2003 05:20 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of raping a woman on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, a U.S. forces spokesman said, in a case that stirred fresh resentment against the U.S. military presence there.
Lance Corporal Jose W. Torres, 21, was arrested by Okinawan police in June on suspicion of raping a 19-year-old Japanese woman after punching her in the face in the early hours of May 25 in an entertainment area near a U.S. base.

[Crispy]

The problem with marines is that, in order to be of the right mindset to do their jobs they have to be dangerously close to completely out of control. Marine encampments and large civilian populations just don't mix, I guess.

[American Oyaji]

There are always these problems around bases. Especially with the younger G.I.s

Young men and women (usually men) away from home for the first time, money in pocket. Train them in a hostile environment for months on end without normal outlets for release of stress except exercise (why do you think they exercise so much?). Howerver exercise isnt enough for some. So as soon as they get liberty/leave/a base pass/ whatever you want to call it, they go out, get some liquor in them which they havent had for months so their resistance is down and they do something stupid.

I'm suprised their arent MORE problems.

[Taro Toporific]

I'm suprised their arent MORE problems.

I'm suprised there aren't more problems too since . . .

US victim of highest rape rate
PakTribune.com, Pakistan - 24 July
... [Rape in the US] is 4 times higher than that of Germany, 13 times higher than that of England and 20 times higher than that of Japan. Studies ...

Hey, every once and a while I have to say something in defense of the boneheads in Japan. :P

[ramchop]

Obviously it's just not reported as much here. And when it is, the police only care if the offender is gaijin.

(today I'm blackcat)

[Taro Toporific]

Obviously it's just not reported as much here. And when it is, the police only care if the offender is gaijin.

(today I'm blackcat)

Like I said, "every once and a while I have to say something in defense of the boneheads in Japan."
(today I'm "jez" jizzum )

[kamome]

There are always these problems around bases. Especially with the younger G.I.s

So as soon as they get liberty/leave/a base pass/ whatever you want to call it, they go out, get some liquor in them which they havent had for months so their resistance is down and they do something stupid.

I have long thought that GIs should NOT receive base passes or leave, for this very reason. They just are not mature enough to handle it. Most of these guys are too young, too aggressive, too uneducated to be in Japan, I think. Obviously, American Oyaji is an exception.

However, I have lived near enough military bases in the US and seen enough GIs in Japan to know that they should be confined to base at all times.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Tend to agree.

[Armandeus]

I was a young GI in Japan (Army). I disagree. I never got into trouble, and I didn't know anyone who did. Should I have been confined to a base a little larger than a golf course for 3 years?

The problem is not GIs leaving the base, but irresponsible GIs leaving the base. The problem may even be a large American community squeezed into a small area in the middle of urban Japan. I don't know the solution, but locking everyone behind the gate for their entire 3 year tour of duty is not a good idea.

I have heard stories about Marines. In the Army base lounge, a couple of young Marines were being too loud. A middle aged man asks them to be quiet. The Marines are annoyed and they ask him who the hell he thinks he is. He shows them his ID card and says he's the general in command of the US Army in Japan, and asks them who the hell they think they are. I thought that was pretty funny. It would have been funnier if I had been there to see the Marines' faces. Maybe it's just the Marines who have no self control.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

No, I say put the entire US military under the same conditions that they operate under in the Middle East. Put them on an even smaller island if possible and I am looking forward to the day when none of our troops are there.

[kamome]

No, I say put the entire US military under the same conditions that they operate under in the Middle East. Put them on an even smaller island if possible and I am looking forward to the day when none of our troops are there.

I say, 'cheers' to that. Really, Japan is no place to put a bunch of pumped up jarheads. Although there are undoubtedly good people who are also on base, there's no way to distinguish them from the bad apples. So confine them to base and don't let them have contact with the locals. That's the only way to prevent repeated rapes and other violent crime.

[Naniwan Kid]

Maybe if these guys actually had real consequences after committing these crimes (instead of hush-hush extra-territoriality laws) they wouldn't cause so much damn trouble.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Maybe if these guys actually had real consequences after committing these crimes (instead of hush-hush extra-territoriality laws) they wouldn't cause so much damn trouble.

No. They would still do it. Believe me, you put 20 Arkies in the same room together and someone is bound to do something outrageously stupid. It's genetics. The same type of inbreeding also brought us the Hussein brothers (may they rest in peace - in hell with an Olympic weight lifter picking them up by the nutsack for eternity plus 50 years).

[jingai]

I've heard that the military crime rate is actually lower that that of the local Japanese, but just like Americans get worked up over the idea of black super-predators from the inner-city coming to rape and murder their wives, Japanese resent the American soldiers and blow crimes out of proportion. Would "Taro Yamada rapes Japanese woman outside bar" make national news headlines in Japan?

Once Japan revises its Constitution and rearms, it won't need US troops, and Japanese can complain about living near the crud known as the SDF.

This was my 100th post- someone bake me a cake!

[Socratesabroad]

Maybe if these guys actually had real consequences after committing these crimes (instead of hush-hush extra-territoriality laws) they wouldn't cause so much damn trouble.

Exactly what "hush-hush" extra-territoriality laws are you referring to?

The Status of Forces Agreement between the US and Japan regarding stationing of US troops on Japanese soil is hardly a secret...

http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/agree0009.html

Moreover, the Uniform Code of Military Justice or UCMJ that governs actions by all branches of military is Congressionally approved and widely available to the public ("Congressional Code of Military Criminal Law applicable to all military members worldwide.").

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ucmj.htm

And as to your other misstatement, the UCMJ (as those who have served are aware) is much stricter than civilian law (both adultery and insubordination are crimes).

While I do not wish to defend military personnel that commit crimes, I am also aware of why the US government would not wish to arbitrarily hand over US government employees (members of the military) without due process.

Keep in mind that considerations are made for serious felonies like rape and murder, but the US military still has that damned stubborn idea of 'due process,' requirements for changes to be brought in order to detain a suspect (usually anything over 24 hours), bans on publicising the accussed's name prior to trial, formal prohibition of police intimidation/coercion, etc.

Yes, the system does not always work perfectly, but I am loathe to get involved in any police or judicial matter here in Japan. And I can see how the US military would feel the same...