Okinawa on Thursday marked 71 years since the end of the Battle of Okinawa with opposition to a new U.S. facility and calls to fundamentally revise the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement.
In a solemn ceremony attended by Okinawan and U.S. officials and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga drew applause when he touched upon the recent murder of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro, allegedly at the hands of Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a civilian worker at Kadena Air Base.
Onaga highlighted the fact that Okinawa hosts nearly 74 percent of facilities exclusively used by the U.S. military in Japan.