Japanese officials pleased with 'period of reflection'

[unhappycamper]

Japanese officials pleased with 'period of reflection'
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, February 22, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Japanese officials said Wednesday they are pleased the U.S. military on Okinawa is restricting personnel to their bases for a “period of reflection.”

“The government welcomes the decision by the U.S. military to take strict measures,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo declared after reports that the U.S. military in Japan was taking steps to further curb off-base incidents by its members.

All military personnel, dependents and Defense Department civilians on Okinawa, and on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and Camp Fuji in mainland Japan, were indefinitely restricted to their bases, military officials announced.

The restriction started at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The action came days after two Marines were arrested by Okinawa police and accused of separate alcohol-fueled crimes — trespassing and drunken driving — after an “ethics and leadership” training stand-down for all Marines in Japan.

That Feb. 14-15 stand-down was issued in reaction to anti-base protests and calls by local and national Japanese officials to rein in misbehaving servicemembers after the arrest Feb. 10 of a Marine staff sergeant accused of raping a 14-year-old Okinawa girl.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52646