Charge comes days after the lifting of an off-base drinking ban imposed after other offenses and the arrest of a former marine in a high-profile murder case

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Japanese police arrested an American serviceman for alleged drunken driving on Okinawa early on Monday morning, days after the lifting of an off-base drinking ban imposed after other alcohol offenses and the arrest of a former marine in a high-profile murder case.

Thousands protest at US bases on Okinawa after Japanese woman's murder Read more

Technical Sergeant Christopher Platte, 27, stationed at Kadena Air Base on the southern island, was arrested after a police officer spotted him driving erratically on the road in the town of Chatan on Okinawa’s central region. Police said a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level exceeding the legal limit. Platte reportedly denied the allegation.

Japan’s government protested to the US embassy over the arrest. The US military had lifted the drinking ban on 28 June.

“It’s extremely regrettable,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Koichi Hagiuda told a news conference. “We want the disciplinary steps carried out thoroughly.”

Hagiuda also said the two nations are at final stages of talks aimed at reviewing the Japan-US Status of Forces of Agreement that gives immunity to American servicemen and civilian base contractors in some criminal cases from Japanese prosecution.

The two governments are expected to announce a plan Tuesday to narrow down the scope of “civilian component” by improving the way the agreement is used. It is a symbolic move that does not involve a fully fledged revision to the agreement and is seen as the ruling party’s appeal to Okinawan voters ahead of the 10 July upper house election.

The US military usually hands its servicemen to the Japanese side in serious crimes, but it is not compulsory under the agreement, which the Okinawan authorities for years have protested as unfair.

In May, a military contractor and former marine, Kenneth Shinzato, was charged with the murder and rape of a 20-year-old woman whose body was abandoned in a forest.

A number of drunken driving cases have occurred in the weeks since, even during the drinking ban, aggravating Okinawans who have long complained about the heavy US military presence on the southern island and crime linked to the Americans living there.

Half of about 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security agreement are based on Okinawa.

The US military says the crime rate among its ranks in Japan is lower than among the general Japanese public. Okinawa police statistics show the US military’s crime rate has been lower than the public’s over the past several years, though the rates in individual years vary.