The defiling of Okinawa. This must end.

[M.Logan]

Hi all,
Sheesh Robert, all that hassle for just a traffic violation huh? I guess that the 'gaijin factor' probably played a part somewhere.
If the same applied to others (ie. armed forces) then perhaps they'd be more reluctant to commit crimes.

Hi Asia, thanks for the reply. Yup, you're right. There are good and bad individuals everywhere.
However. Something must be done to deter the potential offenders, and, if they do offend, then they must be viewed as regular citizens would be.
Being exempted just because of your job/occupation seems wrong.


Anyway. Thanks again for the replies folks.


Regards,
Matt Logan

[scoundrel]

Are US armed forces accorded special legal protection? Yes. But let us put that fact into proper context. We are NOT an army of occupation. The US military is there, ostensibly, at the invitation of the host government for protection and regional stability. If the balloon goes up, those servicemen and women will be fighting and dying defending countries far away from home. Also, some of the countries that we are based in have a lot less respect for due process than the U.S. Even in modern, industrial countries like Japan, their concept of due process is somewhat sketchy. Add to that their xenophobic nature, along with domestic politics, and I can easily see the need for a little extra legal protection.

[M.Logan]

Legal protection is all well and good, but how much is too much?

[Doug Daulton]

Matt ... a belated welcome to e-Budo.

OK, here's my 50 Yen.

SOFA benefits under the law are generally valid for the reasons Mr. Choi points out. US soldiers are there at the invitation of the host country. In the event of war, these men and women will fight, bleed and die for the people of Okinawa and Japan. So, letting the occasional speeding ticket go is a small indulgence out of respect for the potential costs.

That said, SOFA should not be used to gloss over major crimes (felonies by the US standard) such as rape, murder and grand larceny. It not only disrespects the victims of these crimes, it gives the US Armed Forces a black eye. Individuals who commit these crimes should and most likely will, if convicted, be tossed from the Armed Services and/or worse, be subjected to military justice which can be far more harsh than civil justice.

As a former local govt. investigator of child sexual assault, I worked three cases involving US. Servicemen on leave. Two of these cases resulted in convictions. In both convictions, the military response was swift and far more harsh than what local/state courts would have handed down. While this may be different on foreign soil, I get the feeling this is not generally the case.

That said, Okinawa has historically been subject to foreign occupation, invited or other. It is the nature of the beast given her strategic military and trading position in the East China Sea. Now, as several folks have mentioned, there is a push by the mainland to turn Okinawa into Japan's Hawaii. This is regrettable. Again, be it resorts run by mainland Japanese, chemical weapons leakages from US military bases or simply the systematic purging of Hogen and other Uchinan dialects in favor of English of Nihongo, the Uchinanchu take the economic, environmental and cultural hit.

It is sad, but certainly not unprecedented. Just ask Native Americans, the Hawaiian/Samoans or the Incans (to name a few). The core question is ... what can be done about it? Rather than simply railing at the gods, take some action, small or large to support Uchina (Okinawa), her sister islands in the Ryukyus and all of their people and traditions.

By the way, if you consider yourself a teacher of an Okinawan martial art, take a long hard look at yourself before you glibly say "I do my part ... I teach Okinawan budo." Of late, many folks have jumped on the "koryu" bandwagon with mainland Japanese arts. Everyone seems to want to legitimize their efforts and arts by calling them "koryu". Sometimes this is appropriate, more often it is not. Unfortunately, the same dynamic is beginning to creep into the Ryukyuan arts as well.

If you practice an art that was derived by a someone in Los Angeles who trained with an Okinawan once, you are not practicing an Okinawan art. You are practicing a Los Angelan art with poorly conceived Okinawan trappings. It may have martial value, but it is not an Okinawan art and should not be labeled as such. So often I hear people spew forth their lineage and as if they were gospel and it is clear they are doing so to bolster their own contrived legitimacy. I listen patiently and politely. Then, I watch their technique. That tells me all I need to know and the message is usually bad. Talk about raping Uchinanchu culture ...

So if you think you practice an Okinawan art but aren't sure, do yourself and more importantly Okinawa a favor, and don't let your ego get the best of you when talking about Okinawa. With both feet in your mouth, it is hard to do waza.

::: Stepping down off my soapbox now :::

<b>NOTE:</b> The rant above was not directed at anyone who has so far posted on this thread. Rather, it reflects a frustration/experience which has been brewing for sometime.

Regards,

[IchiRiKen1]

I am currently stationed at Camp Zama, Kanagawa-ken, Honshu, Japan, Headquarters of the United States Army - Japan (Mr. Power was stationed here once upon a time).

I work in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate ("Legal" for you unwashed non-knowing any better types) and while I cannot comment on what I do or do not know pursuant to any investigations or cases currently ongoing, nor do I presume to make a statement on behalf of anyone other than myself (not the command, my unit, or anything, just my own meandering opinions and experiences), I can say that the overall amount of criminal cases in my time here (2 1/2 years so far) dealing with rape or other similarly offensive and heinous crimes has been nil. I can't speak for the other services.

Something I think hasn't been taken in to consideration fully is that of the 50,000 plus servicemen and women currently assigned to Japan, when you look at the percentage of crimes given the total military population it is amazingly small. At my last duty station I had only 3% of the numbers here and had at least five times the volume of judicial and nonjudicial actions! That was in our own midwestern backyard.

It must also be borne in mind (as was mentioned in a post earlier than mine) that much of the same kinds of crimes occur in Japan and Okinawa, committed by Japanese and Okinawans, but gets much less coverage... There are posters in the train stations with pictures of schoolgirls wagging their fingers and encouraging people "Don't be a pervert!" Sexual assaults occur frequently here, they simply go unreported or receive no media attention. With the current political situation in Japan and Korea (especially regarding the proposed rewrite of the SOFA), it is big news (and therefore big money) to publish info on the misconduct of the big bad American.

As with all things discussed on E-Budo and other martial arts forums that are primarily for English speaking Westerners, remember to try to put things into the proper cultural frame of reference before getting too pissed off and judgemental...

[Doug Daulton]

Originally posted by IchiRiKen1 ... Something I think hasn't been taken in to consideration fully is that of the 50,000 plus servicemen and women currently assigned to Japan, when you look at the percentage of crimes given the total military population it is amazingly small. At my last duty station I had only 3% of the numbers here and had at least five times the volume of judicial and nonjudicial actions! That was in our own midwestern backyard.

Matt,

Upon rereading my previous post, I think wrote poorly and may have come off sounding like servicemen/women were deviants and the JAG was lax. That was not most certainly not my intention.

The service men I referred to were 3 alleged perpetrators from two of approximately 1500+ cases I investigated. The rest were U.S. civilians, including CEOs, ministers, low-level politicians and several other "community leaders". The point I was ham-handedly trying to make is that sexual-deviants come in all shapes and sizes, not just in the US military.

Furthermore, in the rare cases where such actions do take place in the US military, the JAG takes such infractions very, very seriously (at least in my experience.) While my experiences were in the US with servicemen on leave, I have no reason to believe the response of a JAG office on foreign soil would be any less quick, thorough or harsh if the alleged perp was found guilty.

Originally posted by IchiRiKen1 ... It must also be borne in mind (as was mentioned in a post earlier than mine) that much of the same kinds of crimes occur in Japan and Okinawa, committed by Japanese and Okinawans, but gets much less coverage... There are posters in the train stations with pictures of schoolgirls wagging their fingers and encouraging people "Don't be a pervert!"

I can also vouch for this. I have seen signs similar to "No Smoking" signs on Tokyo subways. Rather than a cigarette, the red line goes through leering salaryman pinching the bottom of a young woman. I also understand that one particular line is known as the "Masher" train. While on this train, young women (Japanese & gaijin) are frequently pawed, groped and otherwise violated by men who take advantage of the terribly tight quarters to grab an "anonymous" feel.

Again, sexual impropriety/deviance knows no occupational or cultural bounds.

Thanks again Matt for adding the JAG perspective to the thread.

Regards,