Kirk Spitzer

USA TODAY

TOKYO – A former U.S. serviceman has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Japanese woman in a case that could have a major impact on U.S.-Japan relations.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old former Marine, confessed to stabbing and strangling a 20-year-old office worker on the island of Okinawa, police said Friday. Her body was found dumped in a wooded area not far from a U.S. airbase where Shinzato works as a civilian employee, according to Kyodo News Service.

The case comes in the midst of delicate negotiations over the future of a key U.S. airbase on Okinawa and only days before President Obama is scheduled to make a historic visit to Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic bombing.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida summoned U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy shortly after Shinzato was arrested late Thursday to lodge a protest, according to local news reports.

On Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters he was “outraged” at the incident.

“I have no words to express my feelings, given how her family must feel,” Abe said. “We will demand that the U.S. side take strict measures to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Shinzato also has been identified by authorities as Kenneth Franklin Gadson; he apparently also uses the family name of his wife, who is Japanese.

According to the newspaper Stars & Stripes, Shinzato is a former U.S. Marine who was stationed on Okinawa and now works as a civilian employee at Kadena Air Base, a major U.S. military hub on Okinawa.

He served as a mail clerk with the 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment on Okinawa in 2008; it is not clear how long he was in the Marines or stationed on Okinawa, according to Shinzato’s profile on LinkedIn.

Neither the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo nor U.S Forces-Japan responded to email requests for comment from USA TODAY on Friday.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. military was cooperating fully with local authorities in their investigation, the Associated Press reported. “This is a terrible tragedy and it’s obviously an outrage,” he said.

Apology question hounds Obama’s planned visit to Hiroshima

The case is the latest in a series of lurid crimes that have generated ill will among many Okinawans towards U.S. forces.

Three U.S. servicemen were convicted in 1995 of kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old girl on her way home from school. The incident sparked massive protests and led to negotiations to reduce the U.S. military presence on Okinawa.

In 2012, two U.S. Navy reservists received long prison sentences for stalking and raping a Japanese woman they had met at an Okinawa bar. And in March of this year, a Navy sailor was charged with raping a Japanese woman who had fallen asleep in the hallway of a hotel in Naha, Okinawa’s capital.

About 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan – mostly in Okinawa.

Japan’s Jiji Press reported that about 250 people protested outside the Kadena Air Base gates on Friday, chanting “Get out of Okinawa” and other slogans.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga has been battling the Abe administration over plans to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps airbase at Futenma to a less densely crowded part of the island. Onaga wants the base moved off Okinawa entirely.

Both sides agreed to drop lawsuits earlier this year and resume negotiations, but there has been little recent progress. On Thursday, Onaga blamed the death of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro on the heavy U.S. military presence on Okinawa.

“This incident has occurred precisely because the base is there,” Onaga said. He had just returned from a trip to the U.S. urging support for closing U.S. bases on Okinawa.

Abe has been a strong supporter of the U.S.-Japan defense alliance, but this week’s arrest could complicate plans to tighten relations further.

The prime minister was expected to discuss increased support for the U.S. “rebalance” during one-on-one talks with Obama on Thursday. But those talks now are likely to focus on the issue of base-related crime.

Obama and Abe are also scheduled to visit Hiroshima on Friday, after conclusion of the two-day Group of Seven leader’s summit in Ise-Shima, Japan. Obama will be the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, where more than 100,000 Japanese were killed as a result of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing.

Obama’s planned visit has generated controversy both at home and in Japan. Atomic bomb survivors have called for Obama to apologize for the widespread death and suffering.

U.S. veteran and POW groups have called on Obama to avoid any appearance of apology, arguing that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days later saved lives by bringing World War II to a swift end.