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May 24, 2016

Okinawa Governor Requests Meeting with Obama After Ex-Marine's Arrest for Murder
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Later this week Obama heads to Japan. He will become the first sitting
U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb
toward the end of World War II. The governor of Okinawa, which houses
about two-thirds of the 50,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Japan,
has requested a direct meeting with Obama. The request by Takeshi Onaga,
who was elected on a platform of removing a U.S. airbase from the
island, comes after last week's arrest of a former marine for the murder
of a Japanese woman. For decades, Okinawa residents have called for the
expulsion of U.S. troops in large part over a history of sexual
assaults. The governor spoke on Monday.

Gov. Takeshi Onaga: "Over the last several years, we have heard nearly a
hundred times that there will be a full enforcement of discipline and a
thorough plan to prevent this from happening again, but the reality is
that nothing has changed."

Topics:Japan Obama

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