US Marine arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman at a Naha hotel, drawing formal protest from Tokyo

A US Marine has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa, the capital of the prefecture. The body was discovered early Saturday morning.

The suspect is Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the US Marine Corps stationed at US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The victim was Anna Yagi, 39. According to CCTV footage reported by AFP, a foreign man was seen entering a hotel room with the woman in the city of Naha and later leaving alone, carrying what appeared to be her belongings. Police allege that Ballard stole Yagi’s wallet and backpack during the encounter. Per NHK, officers found a 20-year-old man matching the description from the footage and asked him to accompany them voluntarily to a local police station, where he was arrested. Ballard has denied the allegations against him, police said, according to NBC News.

Tokyo lodges formal protest

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described the occurrence as a matter of profound regret, calling the crime brutal and heinous and lodging a strong protest with the US government over the killing. Japan’s foreign ministry summoned US ambassador George Glass on Sunday to discuss the incident and convey the government’s protest. Takaichi demanded maximum cooperation with the investigation, and the government urged the US to enforce stricter discipline among military personnel and take thorough measures to prevent a recurrence of similar crimes.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi was blunt. He said in a social media post that incidents and accidents involving US military personnel cause anxiety to the local community and must never occur. “Such an incident is utterly inexcusable and fills me with strong indignation,” Koizumi wrote in a social media post.

US pledges cooperation

US ambassador George Glass posted on social media that he had spoken with Japan’s foreign ministry and Okinawa’s governor, offering sincere condolences to the victim’s family and pledging full cooperation with the investigation into her death. The Marine Corps was equally direct. The US Marine Corps said on social media that it is actively cooperating with Japanese authorities in response to allegations of serious criminal actions by a Marine. Separately, the US Embassy in Tokyo said it was fully cooperating with the Japanese government and local police on the case.

Okinawa’s governor and the victim’s family

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja was scathing. He said the prefecture has repeatedly demanded that the US take action to prevent such incidents and sees the alleged crime as a sign of a lack of discipline. “The fact that this kind of event has happened again leaves us no choice but to conclude that the US military’s efforts in maintaining discipline, educating personnel, and other such measures are completely ineffective,” Koja said. Yagi’s brother said through local police, per the Asahi Shimbun, that the family had lost a member and was deeply saddened, and that his parents in particular were utterly devastated at the loss of their daughter.

A recurring pattern

Japan hosts about 54,000 US military personnel, including 18,000 Marines, and the majority of these forces are based in Okinawa, which bears about 70% of US military facilities in Japan. Crimes committed by US personnel have long been a thorn in relations between the close security allies. The island came under US administrative control at the end of World War II and was returned to Japan in 1972. Since that handover, about 6,000 US military personnel have been arrested in Japan, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. The number of arrests of US military personnel in a single year hit 80 in 2024, marking the highest total in 20 years.

The pattern is long-standing. In June 2025, a Japanese court sentenced US Marine Jamel Clayton, then 22, to seven years in prison after convicting him of choking and sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s. In 2017, former US Marine and civilian military base worker Kenneth Shinzato was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa. That same year, US forces in Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after an intoxicated American marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing its 61-year-old local driver.