New force-wide liberty rules for troops across Japan have yet to materialize a week after an announcement by top U.S. officials that they were coming.
A Marine Corps general, in a letter co-authored by the U.S. ambassador to Japan on July 12, proposed an updated set of liberty rules for all U.S. service members stationed in the country following recent allegations of criminal conduct involving an airman and a Marine on Okinawa.
A week later, it was still unclear whether that proposal had come to fruition. In military parlance, “liberty” means authorized leave from duty. Even as recently as last year, there had been stricter enforcement of those rules for some service members, specifically Marines, due to reports of misconduct.
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The recent pair of alleged crimes committed by service members on Okinawa has once again reopened long-standing wounds between the U.S. military and the local community — ones that have festered for decades and strained diplomatic relationships between the two countries.
Marine Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, the commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel wrote that “we will introduce one set of liberty time rules … so that every service member, regardless of branch, follows the same rules of conduct and behavior.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Forces Japan, or USFJ, told Military.com in a statement Friday that all military components are reviewing their protocols — to include education, training and “patrol routines” — to address the issue but a week after the release of the letter, which was billed as an op-ed by III MEF’s public affairs, he did not say whether uniform liberty rules would be implemented across the branches.
Meanwhile, Marine Corps bases have beefed up sobriety checks across all installations in Japan, Stars and Stripes reported Friday, including 100% breathalyzer tests for drivers and pedestrians after 8 p.m. and before 8 a.m. following the alleged crimes. The publication reported that there are already baseline liberty rules for troops in Japan, but Marine liberty policy was tightened last year after reports of misconduct, creating an imbalance between the services.
The measures and proposals come as social media posts and Japanese media showed that locals have again taken to protesting outside the gates leading to the military installations on Okinawa in large numbers.
The letter from Emanuel and Turner said that leaders were contacting “every single” service member to reinforce conduct expectations. It also said that military law enforcement is increasing patrols in Okinawa.
However, when Military.com reached out for updates about the proposed Japan-wide liberty policy, military officials took days to respond and offered no specifics or concrete changes.
The USFJ spokesperson, Col. Greg Hignite, said that all components are “working rapidly to take appropriate measures” but did not specify what those measures were, outside of reviewing protocol. Spokespeople for the Navy and Air Force told Military.com that their services were working with USFJ to evaluate the liberty policy. Marine Corps headquarters did not respond by publication.
“The vast majority of USFJ’s members are devoted ambassadors to their communities, and when this type of behavior is identified, we take action,” Hignite said.
This month, Senior Airman Brennon R.E. Washington, 25, pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor in December, according to Stripes. Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 21, allegedly attempted to choke and sexually assault a woman in the western part of the island in May. The July 12 letter expressed “deep regret” over these cases.
“The past few weeks have been challenging for all of us who are stewards of the U.S.-Japan alliance following the alleged incidents involving U.S. service members,” the letter said. “Should the Japanese legal system find the allegations to be true, then we will have fallen well short of our own expectations and values. We must also acknowledge that it has been a difficult time for the people of Okinawa.”
The history of service members committing crimes — especially crimes fueled by alcohol or of a sexual nature — goes back decades on the island.
In 1995, a sailor and two Marines in a rented van kidnapped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl, whom they proceeded to beat and rape. The three men were all convicted and sentenced to several years in Japanese prison, but the incident sparked outrage and helped push rare reforms to the legal framework that governs the legal rights of troops stationed in the country.
That incident also spurred talks on reducing the large U.S. military presence on the island and, the following year, the U.S. and Japan signed an agreement that cut the amount of land U.S. bases used on Okinawa by 21%.
However, incidents on the island have continued, often followed by a clampdown by military leaders on drinking or off-base travel by service members.
In the summer of 2016, a U.S. sailor was arrested after driving the wrong way on an Okinawa road, crashing into two cars and injuring two people while having a blood alcohol content that was six times the Japanese legal limit.
This led the Navy to institute a temporary lockdown of sailors in Japan, banning the drinking alcohol and any nonessential travel off base.
Around the same time, a civilian worker, who was also a Marine veteran, at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman. The Air Force base was forced to cancel an Independence Day festival that year.
A year later, another alcohol-fueled, deadly car crash on Okinawa led to a round of lockdowns. In 2023, two Marines were involved in alleged misconduct — including one accused of punching an elderly Japanese woman — which resulted in stricter liberty rules for the Corps in Japan.
Of the recent criminal cases, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters July 12 that “it is intolerable that such incidents have continued to occur.”
Kamikawa also referenced the editorial as a sign of both Emanuel and Turner’s “deep regret” over the incidents, saying that they “are taking concrete measures” to address the issue.
“Our two nations and peoples have forged a deep friendship over many decades,” the letter said. “There have been challenging moments along the way, but the measure of any relationship is not the absence of disagreement, but the ability to overcome those difficulties, find common ground, and become stronger and more resilient. We have done so in the past and will do so, again, now.”
— Thomas Novelly contributed to this report.
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