With the alleged rape of an Okinawa City woman by two U.S. servicemen on Oct. 16 fresh in people's minds, another U.S. serviceman allegedly broke into an Okinawan residence and struck a boy on Nov. 2.

The Okinawa prefectural police on Nov. 5 interrogated the man, a 24-year-old U.S. Air Force member stationed at Kadena Air Base, on a voluntary basis under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The police decided that the case was not so atrocious as to demand that the U.S. side hand him over to them.

But this was not a minor incident in terms of repercussions. It occurred less than three weeks after the alleged rape and while a curfew for U.S. military members was in force. Three days after the Oct. 16 alleged rape, the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan imposed an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, covering all U.S. servicepeople in Japan.