CHATAN, OKINAWA PREFECTURE – While not widely reported, the recent brutal abduction, rape, and murder of a local woman in Okinawa allegedly by a U.S. civilian employee on Kadena Air Base (and former U.S. Marine) has also emotionally affected the American community in Okinawa, which cares about this prefecture and the overall U.S.-Japan-Okinawa relationship, and is deeply saddened.
The announcement of a variety of measures to address the incident and other matters is important, but without careful analysis and an accurate understanding of the situation in Okinawa, remedies by both the U.S. and Japanese governments may be superficial at best and may not get at the heart of the matter despite the best of intentions.
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