Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun.
January 29, 2025 at 15:40 JST
An on-site inspection of the Girard trial at the training ground where the incident occurred in Gunma Prefecture is conducted. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A notorious crime, known as the “Girard Incident,” occurred on Jan. 30, 1957, at a U.S. military training range at the foot of Mount Haruna in Gunma Prefecture.
Naka Sakai, 46, was picking up spent shell casings to earn a living when Spc. 3rd Class William Girard of the U.S. Army beckoned her in broken Japanese—calling her “Mama-san”—and then shot her dead as if she were just an animal or a bird.
“We Japanese are not sparrows,” the outraged public cried out.
The U.S. Army agreed to have Girard tried in a Japanese court of law, but the trial itself was a farce.
Girard was sentenced to three years in prison with a four-year stay of execution.
“That’s the same as an acquittal,” lamented Sakai’s bereaved family.
And Girard returned to the United States as a free man.
The Asahi Graph magazine of that time ran an unforgettable picture. It shows the judge, prosecutor and U.S. Army officers posing peacefully in the court's inner garden to be photographed together.
“This is the exact embodiment of the court’s decision,” the magazine observed.
A diplomatic document, which was later released to the public, confirmed that Japan and the United States had struck a secret deal, under which the defendant would be given “the lightest possible sentence” in exchange for being tried in Japan.
That was 68 years ago, but atrocious crimes by U.S. troops continue to this day.
So long as suspects can be proven to have been on duty when the crimes were committed, they cannot be tried in Japan. And even if they were off duty, they cannot be arrested—unless caught red-handed—until indicted.
As always, Japan-U.S. relations remain unequitable.
Many criminal cases involving the U.S. military aren’t even tried. This month, again, an American soldier didn’t get prosecuted for sexually assaulting a woman in Okinawa.
Are absurd decisions being made somewhere without our knowledge? How long must this reality go on?
I just stared at the Asahi Graph’s old black-and-white photo.
—The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 29
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
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