🇯🇵 🇺🇸 | Protests in Japan against US military bases. Protests are spreading across the country after another woman was killed in Okinawa, allegedly by a US Marine. Media outlets widely report that Japan has lodged a "strong protest" with the US. Yet Prime Minister Takaichi's government is the one pushing to expand the US military presence on Okinawa. According to the Okinawa Prefectural Police, the 20-year-old suspect, Devin Jacob Ballard, is accused of killing the woman at a hotel in Naha and stealing her backpack and wallet. Police said he has denied the allegations. Japan hosts about 55,000 US troops, the largest US military presence outside the United States, and roughly half of them are stationed on Okinawa. Okinawa makes up less than 1% of Japan's land but holds about 70% of the land used exclusively by US forces. It also bears a share of the crimes that keep making headlines. According to Okinawa Prefecture, US service members, civilian employees and their families were involved in 6,163 criminal cases between the island's return to Japan in 1972 and 2022. In 2023 alone there were 72 cases, the highest yearly total in two decades. A string of sexual assault cases in 2024 led to street protests and calls to scale back the bases.