TOKYO (Sputnik) — According to the Kyodo news agency, starting from May 27 and until June 24 all the military personnel has to return to the territory of the bases by midnight. It is forbidden to buy alcoholic drinks outside the territory of a base, as well as to organize parties and spend night outside the base.
Earlier in May, 32-year-old former US Marine Kenneth Franklin was arrested on suspicion of stabbing and strangling a 20-year-old Japanese woman near US Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. The woman, Rina Shimabukuro, disappeared on April 28 and was later found dead in a forest. Franklin has reportedly admitted to committing the murder.
Okinawa is home to a large US military presence and there have been mass protests over the years by the island’s inhabitants over incidents of alleged rape by US armed forces personnel stationed there.
Earlier this week, the Okinawa prefecture's assembly adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of US Marines from the island.