Preferential Treatment For U.S. Soldiers In Japanese Jails
Today’s Mainichi WaiWai column summarizes a tabloid magazine’s investigation into the treatment given to members of the U.S. military doing time in Japanese prisons:
On June 8, 2006, a U.S. military prisoner in Yokosuka Prison was served a breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, French toast with jam and cereal. His lunch comprised pot roast, boiled rice, asparagus, coleslaw and baked custard. And his evening meal, meanwhile, was vegetable soup, steak with tomato sauce, curry and rice, corn, macaroni salad and spice cake.
On the same day, Japanese prisoners at the same institution were served onion in miso soup, natto fermented soybeans, grated radish and pickled vegetables. For lunch, they got twice-cooked pork, bean sprouts and marinated fish. Dinner was a croquette, macaroni salad, miso soup with egg and salted cucumber.
And it’s not just food where the American military offenders are getting it better than their Japanese counterparts.
“They have individual cells about three tatami mats (around nine square meters) big and the toilets are Western-style,” a journalist tells Sunday Mainichi. “They also have their own TVs and are allowed to watch some American TV shows.”
The treatment is a result of an agreement made between the U.S. and Japan in the 1950’s, apparently “in consideration of the cultural differences between the countries.” While U.S. troops in Japanese jails are given about 4,000 calories of food a day — far more than the 2,620 calories other prisoners in the same jail receive, it should be noted that the U.S. government covers the bill.
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It seems to me that the US military prisoners are gettting just about the same as a Japanese prisoner of an American jail would get. And US prisons DO accomodate for religious and cultural food preferences.
If this small favor makes it easier to persuade the US military to cooperate more when handing over any US troops to Japanese authorities, it is a small price to pay.
This is a nothing story, more anti-US Japanese media “reporting”. But I guess if this is the only thing they can come up with this week, it’s pretty sad for them.
As for treating some people different from others.
Do you think the US military person in a Japanese jail would be safe? Especially with all the anti-US military sentiment generated by the press. A person who didn’t even really choose to come to Japan, nor really want to be part of the culture, and probably not learn any of the language, might also warrant some consideration…forcing them to eat natto and watch Crayon Shinchan would be “torture” if we go by the pretty lax definitions these days.
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Well, even if they “didn’t really chose to come to Japan”, they choose to commit a crime, didn’t they?
A switch from chicken McNuggets to natto might even do their health some good. The Japanese authorities might think that poisoning someone’s arteries with sausagge patties is some kind of punishemnt.
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If they did commit a crime, they should be held to due legal process.
Japan fails in this. The legal system isn’t archaic, it is fundamentally flawed.
I could straw man Abu Ghraib into this but it is sad how close that would be. I’d love for my country to be adamant in its citizens treatment in a country with a dubious legal system.
This is why there is a SOFA agreement, and why America is smart for having them.
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Easy …. so these guys don’t belong into jail in your opinion? And even though these jails, I am sure, are no fun, they are certainly nothing like Abu Ghraib! No systematic torture by an invading military force.
Japan’s incarceration rates are very low, this is a sign that the legal system, despite flaws, is successful in some sense.
In any case, I was not making a political point but a joke about natto vs. the “Homer Simpson diet”.
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It isn’t should or not, it is a SOFA agreement that the US makes with every nation where it’s forces are stationed and that is why it is this way.
The SOFAs aren’t always fair but the A stands for Agreement.
This is a non story.
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First, few people are probably aware of the SOFA arrangements. So in that respect it is, literally, news. And second, just because something is an “agreement” doesn’t mean it is “good” or “fair” – or rather, that “the people” will consider it such when they hear about it.
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4,000 calories a day? I’ll assume for the sake of argument that these are actually kilocalories, and just say, no wonder Americans are so fat….
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Depends on their height and level of activity. Being 6′2″ (188 cm) myself, and having a particularly active system, I need about 3500 – 4000 kcal to maintain a healthy weight.
The recommended 2000 kcal is an average that’s supposed to reach across the table, but it doesn’t satisfy all. Women may need between 500 – 3500 kcal a day, and men 800 – 4000.
There’s a pretty nifty table I just found here:
http://www.healthyeatingclub.com/info/articles/food-guides/12345-pyr.htm
My calculated energy need was 3100 kcal per day, and that’s just to keep me sustained!
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i think that this is just pacifying the US troops with all of the extra treatment. The 4000 calories a day is probably what they need to stay healthy (military being some who eat a lot) and splitting that in half or more would probably result in weight drops and problems if/when they get out of jail, and back to their training.
That said, the food doesn’t have to be such a higher quality than that of the Japanese prisoners. Steaks and roast beef? That all sounds like very good fare. Then again, the US military is paying for it, so what is there to say. i don’t agree with the quality of the food being so very high in comparison. i also don’t see why they need bigger cells, and televisions.
i think its all just to pacify, really. No, it isn’t fair that they are being held above everyone else but i’m not sure that it will change.
The food intake level being higher, i agree with, because it is a different diet, but it doesn’t have to be such high level food, and the tv, larger cells, and western style toilets are unnecessary to me.
its all just pacification, unfortunately : /
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I agree that this is a non-story. What is given to US soldiers in jail is all specified in the SOFA. Since soldiers are forced by orders to go overseas the US government through SOFAs tries to have soldiers get the same protections and treatment they would receive in the US legal system since they wouldn’t be in the country in the first place if the US government didn’t send them there.
If the SOFA in Japan is similar to the one in Korea then the food for the soldiers is coming from the chow hall at a nearby US military facility. That is what is done in Korea where MPs from Camp Humphreys deliver food to the US servicemembers imprisoned down the road in the ROK jail in Choenan. Likewise the servicemembers imprisoned in Choenan have a small cell to themselves in a separate wing of the prison.
I have actually talked with the warden of the prison in korea who told me the jail actually goes above and beyond what is expected in the SOFA in order to ensure no one accuses them of human rights violations.
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What is not pointed out is the fact that the U.S. Government pays for the food that these prisoners recieve as well as any extra type of “comfort” outside of regular treatment. Any U.S. Prisoner who was arrested, tried, and convicted in the Japanese Court System is still part of the U.S. Militaries responsibility until released, therefore and along with the agreement of the Japanese government they recieve this kind of support. Once they serve there time then they are turned back over to U.S. custody, dishonorably discharged and kicked out of the service and Japan. Plus the food is probably far from whatever luxury service they are trying to make it be.
Seriously between the constant “look at what U.S. troops did 3 years ago but we’re reporting it today” in Japan Today and stories like this here, I don’t understand why all the interest…..
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At least, Japan is legally abiding Judicial-Legal System we have not only SOFA abiding but domestic Criminal Law article No.4(2) and article No.5 and Criminal Appeals Prosecution Law Article 146(4). It’s appalling to see U.S. military’s lack of legal knowledge of Japanese society from the daily crime treatment which is not SOFA but a social prejudice towards Japanese system. Imagine if you are native North American and you are eye witness to the social condition of “Japanese” is currently keeping a two dozen or more military base locations in your home communities and also in every legal court case, they are individually acquiring present SOFA-like extra-territoriality status which is different and isolated-separate from the same foreign nationality civilian legal court treatment case especially during the criminal justice investigation procedure? What are you going to do in response.
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Emporia8, I don’t get what you are whining about? The US-Japan SOFA is a reciprocal SOFA. That means that all the protections that US servicemembers receive in Japan are the same protections Japanese servicemembers receive in America while being stationed there.
Also for example on Okinawa the US servicemembers there commit less crime per capita then the native population:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/20/statistics-for-recent-usfj-crime-rate-on-okinawa-released/
The few servicemembers that are arrested are tried and imprisoned through the Japanese legal system. The only point of dispute is when servicemembers are turned over to Japanese police. This dispute would not exist if it wasn’t for coercive interrogation tactics that has even been condemned by Amnesty International. These two cases are perfect examples of problems with handing over US servicemembers to Japanese authorities:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=15145&archive=true
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,170085,00.html
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You have posted these statistics here before, equally without the necessary qualifier:
“Also for example on Okinawa the US servicemembers there commit less crime per capita then the native population:”
No. According to your stats, they commit less crime under Japanese jurisdiction. As most of these people (fortunately, really) spend most of their lives on the bases, they only spend a small fraction of their time under J jurisdiction. What their real crime rate (on+off base) is, I don’t know.
Just to make sure statistics are interpreted correctly.
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Crime is not being committed against Japanese on base they are being committed against Japanese off base.
Plus on base crime is handled by the UCMJ that charges soldiers for things they would not be held legally liable for in the civilian world like being late for movement.
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sure. This is just not what your original statement (“crime per capita”) said.
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