US army worker in Japan arrested on rape suspicion
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-15 13:57

An American civilian employee of the U.S. Army in Japan was arrested on Friday on suspicion of raping a Japanese woman on the island of Okinawa, home to the largest U.S. military presence in Japan, a police spokesman said.

The arrest comes at a time when many residents of Okinawa are angry over the crash of a U.S. military transport helicopter on the grounds of a university in August.

No one on the ground was hurt, but a month later some 30,000 residents took part in a rally to protest against the U.S. military bases on the island.

The U.S. military has about 47,000 personnel in Japan, including around 20,000 Marines in Okinawa, where many residents resent bearing what they see as an unfair burden for the U.S.-Japan military alliance.

Outrage over the rape of a Japanese school girl by three U.S. servicemen in 1995 rocked the bilateral relationship.

Japanese and U.S. authorities are currently discussing the impact of a global realignment of American military forces to cope with new threats such as terrorism, and many in Okinawa hope that one result will be a smaller U.S. military presence.

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