Japan reports nearly 5,000 criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel

Japan's National Police Agency has recorded 4,998 criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel, civilian employees, and their families between 1989 and May 2026. Nearly half of these incidents, totaling 2,447 cases (49.0 percent), occurred in Okinawa Prefecture.

Of the total cases, 18.3 percent took place in Kanagawa Prefecture and 8.9 percent in Tokyo. The data also identified 266 serious crimes, including murder, robbery, arson, and rape, occurring nationwide during this period. Within these serious offenses, 129 occurred in Okinawa, 67 in Kanagawa, and 34 in Tokyo.

The high crime rate is linked to the burden of hosting U.S. military bases. Okinawa, which comprises only 0.6 percent of Japan's land area, hosts approximately 70 percent of all U.S. military facilities used exclusively in the country. Last year, criminal cases in Okinawa involving U.S. military-affiliated personnel reached 101, the highest since 2003, with the prefecture's proportion of national cases hitting a record 67.8 percent.

Public outrage has been renewed following the October 4 arrest of a U.S. Marine Corps member stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on suspicion of robbery and murder.