despite the crunch, some programms are actually performing ok…

Of course, on-base crime does not worry the Japanese, and I completely agree with your argument about the demographics.

I disagree, however, with your explanation about the reasons for the extra attention these crimes get (media hysteria). All of my Okinawan friends regard the US military as quite unwelcome “guests”. The soldiers stationed here are representatives of an aggressive foreign military power which takes up a significant portion of the island (some of the nicest spots) and runs extremely noisy and dangerous (crashed in the city) aircraft from there. There are plans to build a new airstrip in what should be a natural preserve. They pay no car tax and water fees, and getting drunk and yelling “genki desch ka!!!” at random women does not exactly build sympathies either.

If on top of that crimes are committed, it is clear that the Okinawans’ patience is exhausted.

I haven’t had time to crunch USFJ wide stats yet but for those looking for USFJ wide crime statistics here is a Stars & Stripes article about them:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59767&archive=true

This article shows the low percentage of crime committed in Japan by USFJ servicemembers.

The perception of out control crime in USFJ is because of the media headlining every single incident. A Marine had a domestic dispute with his Japanese wife on Okinawa and that made headlines. If every incident involving a Japanese citizen was headlined in the US media then people in the US would have a very different view of Japanese nationals living in America.

Also comparing stats of Japanese civilians living in America is not valid because of the demographics. Take 50,000 mostly young Japanese men who mostly cannot speak English and station them in Los Angeles and see if they commit no crime because that is what is being expected of US servicemembers in Japan.

What I find interesting is that foreigners in Japan make up about 1% of the population but foreigners on average commit about 2-3% of the crime according to this Asia Times article:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FK13Dh01.html

This is higher then the US military percentage of crime in Japan. Obviously foreigners living in Japan are a bigger crime problem for the country then the US military.

I’d like to see the proof. I do assume you’re right here, but it’s hard to make the claim without proof.

http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/20/statistics-for-recent-usfj-crime-rate-on-okinawa-released/

Minors of USFJ servicemembers as you can read in the linked article are an increasing problem with dependents approaching almost the same number of servicemembers arrested.

Japan can start looking at the specific break downs of which foreigners are committing violent crimes and then move to bar anyone falling into that profile from entering the country under any circumstances.

If Japan still has problems with foreign crime then can expand the program. Then when they get rid of all foreigners there will be no more crimes committed in Japan. Right….right?

Why do they do the crime in the foreign country?

Poor, poor foreign criminals are being persecuted. How dare they?

But, I guess it somehow show the true nature of a couple of young guys from the state.

It’s back to the old problem.
Are gaijin committing crimes at a statistically significant higher rate than Japanese?
But can you even tell, since gaijin crimes are probably more likely to be reported (especially in Okinawa), and the suspects sought after by police, and suspects easier to find and be caught, than Japanese criminals. And how much do those biases affect the stats?
And how much does the media bias to report these stories more than Japanese crimes bias public perception?