Photo/Illutration Demonstrators protest over alleged sex crimes involving U.S. service members outside the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture on June 28. (Jin Hirakawa)

NAHA--Howls of outrage erupted here over a second suspected sex crime involving a U.S. serviceman that was initially kept under wraps by the central government.

“It is absolutely unforgivable that such an inhumane and despicable crime has again come to light immediately after we learned that a young girl was abducted and assaulted,” Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters on June 28.

Okinawa prefectural police said earlier in the day that Jamel Clayton, a 21-year-old U.S. Marine lance corporal, was arrested in May on suspicion of injuring a woman during an attempted rape. The suspect was indicted in June.

Three days earlier, investigative sources said Brennon R.E. Washington, a 25-year-old U.S. airman, was indicted in March on suspicion of abducting and sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 16 in Okinawa Prefecture in December.

Both cases came to light after they were reported by local media outlets. The central government had not disclosed the cases to prefectural authorities.

Tamaki emphasized that his prefectural administration, had it been informed of the first case, could have demanded that the U.S. and Japanese governments implement preventive measures.

Dai Shimabukuro, a prefectural assembly member and secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party’s prefectural chapter, said: “If the information (on the first case) had been conveyed to the prefecture sooner, a curfew might have been imposed. We could have taken measures that would have served as a deterrent.”

Okinawa prefectural police did not announce Clayton’s arrest or report it to the prefectural government.

Tamaki on June 28 called on Haruyuki Kamatani, chief of the prefectural police department, to share information about suspected crimes involving U.S. service members.

“Withholding information about serious incidents raises concerns about securing the safety of residents, including children,” he said.

The same day, about 90 protesters gathered outside the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, where Washington is attached.

They carried white, yellow and pink flowers and placards, some of which read, “Give back our girl’s dignity.”

Prefectural assembly members from the ruling and opposition camps were preparing a resolution and statement of protest to the Japanese and U.S. governments over the incident, when a plenary session opened June 28.

Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano called on U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel to prevent a recurrence and strengthen discipline when Washington was indicted on March 27.

Okano also protested to Emanuel over the second case on June 12, five days before Clayton was indicted.

However, the Foreign Ministry did not communicate either case to the prefectural government.

At a news conference on June 28, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa indicated plans to improve communications with local governments over serious incidents involving U.S. service members “in light of the concerns and anxieties of Okinawa’s people.”

But she stressed that investigative authorities decided not to announce the first case, taking into consideration the potential impact on the victim’s privacy and other factors.

At a separate news conference on June 28, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi denied that the central government withheld the information because of diplomatic and political events, such as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s U.S. visit in April or the prefectural assembly election in June.

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