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.

“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.

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

Actually I don’t know how many kcal I go through, but it wouldn’t be 3500 I hope. All this thinking (ahem) means I am relatively sedentary, and if I were to put away 3500 (at 185cm in height) I would very swiftly gain (more) weight. Even overthinking everything….

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…..

Above, it says “Active men – 2,800 calories per day” (which is wrong, and should be capitalized as Calories or written as kcal…) What it completely ignores is height and muscle mass, and doesn’t even mention cogitation. All those active neurons need calories to fire. I’d imagine the overthinker burns a considerable amount of calories just in daily thoughts!

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.

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”.

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 : /

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.

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.

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!

The SOFAs aren’t always fair but the A stands for Agreement.

This is a non story.

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.