Futenma Mcas Airport

The measure was put in place following the arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of murder and robbery.

The man, stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, allegedly killed a 39-year-old local woman at a hotel in Naha City and took her wallet and other belongings earlier this month.

He was arrested the following day.

All U.S. service personnel in Okinawa have been ordered to stay at home from midnight to 5 a.m. for 30 days.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a terrible story really.

But a 20-year-old US marine, Devin Jacob Ballard, who's stationed at Futenma in Okinawa, that's our most southern island of Japan, he was arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder of a local Japanese woman, 39-year-old Anna Yagi.

Uh, she's a woman from Naha City, and she was found dead at a hotel in the city early on October 3rd.

Police say, uh, she died from asphyxiation, which is pressure to her neck, and that her wallet and other belongings were also taken by the man that they believe is Ballard.

But the fact is, given, you know, what's going on now and the threats that Japan faces, that is very unlikely.

Um, the only thing that, uh, I think a lot of the residents are more focused on is at least trying to get some of these bases out of more densely populated areas.

So Futenma, which is where Ballard was stationed, um, this, uh, this Marine site, uh, the idea behind it, the relocation of it, was to get it away from a densely populated area and moving it towards a more remote coastal area.

Um, so after the 1995 rape case happened, actually, Japan and the US agreed that it need to be relocated, the base needed to be relocated.

The latest incident occurred less than a month after Koja's election as governor raised hopes in Tokyo for smoother relations with the prefecture.

Koja, for example, was seen as more open than his predecessors to the government's plan to relocate the Futenma Air Station to Nago's Henoko District in the prefecture.

Takeuchi has repeatedly described the Japan-US alliance as the cornerstone of Japan's security policy and pledged to further strengthen its deterrence capabilities.

But now her government must confront a familiar challenge, how to respond to Okinawa's concerns about crimes involving US personnel while maintaining a military presence it views as central to regional security.

Authorities say Ballard also stole her wallet and other belongings.

He's stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and was arrested on Sunday.

Takai met with Okinawa governor Koja Genta at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Koja said the incident is extremely vicious and has caused great anxiety among people there.