Japan protests over alleged rape by U.S. sailor in Okinawa

The Japanese government lodged a protest with the United States over an alleged rape committed by a U.S. navy sailor in Japan's southernmost island prefecture of Okinawa on Sunday, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Monday.

The chief cabinet secretary told a press conference here that both Japanese foreign and defense ministries lodged protests with U.S. Embassy and U.S. forces stationed in Japan, adding that it was"extremely regrettable"that this crime happened.

Okinawan police on Sunday arrested 24- Justin Castellanos, a seaman at the U.S. Navy's Camp Schwab in northern Okinawa, over the allegation that he took a woman in her 40s to his room in a hotel in Naha, capital city of the prefecture, and committed the crime.

Local reports cited police as saying that the suspect denied the allegation.

U.S. officials said that they took the case seriously and that it would be regrettable if a U.S. serviceman was involved in the alleged rape, according to Suga.

Meanwhile, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said that the"serious crime"can never be tolerated and he expressed his"strong resentment."

The governor also said that the crime may pose a significant impact on the prefecture's tourism since the victim is a traveler from Fukuoka Prefecture.

Crimes committed by U.S. servicemen such as a rape of an elementary schoolgirl in 1995 and trespass or drunk driving in recent years triggered local residents' aversion to U.S. servicemen stationed in the prefecture.

Okinawa accounts for less than 1 percent of Japan's total territories but hosts over 70 percent of U.S. bases in Japan.

The alleged crime came at a time when the Japanese and U.S. governments are coordinating to push a plan to relocate the U.S. Futenma airbase in the prefecture within Okinawa, but the prefectural government and residents oppose to the plan and called for remove of the U.S. airbase out of the prefecture.