Hours earlier, the US military in Okinawa announced a 48-hour pause of all military operations for training through noon on Friday, as well as restricting the ability of troops to leave their base and prohibiting the consumption of alcohol.
Lieutenant general Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, wrote in a letter posted Tuesday on X that episodes like these “demand we pause for reflection” and that serving on the Japanese island “comes with responsibility”.
US troops on Okinawa will be under a curfew from midnight to 5am for 30 days following the two-day training period, Watson said.
Koja said he appreciated prompt response from the Japanese and US governments to the murder case “as a sign they both took the case seriously”.
However, he will need to see details of the ongoing training, he said, and requested the Japanese involvement to make US disciplinary measures more effective.
A majority of the more than 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security agreement are based on the island.
Earlier Monday, Koja made the same request in his meeting with Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.