Can you supply me source? What I've found is a bit fishy.
1) crime rate by Solders in Okinawa is less than crime rate of Americans solders anywhere in the world. Sounds odd to me.

2) The data I've seen are Okinawan police only( not including MP records ) and the data is crimes by Solders Vs All crimes. That includes foreigners that aren't solders and I know that Okinawa tourism has gone up in the last thirty years.

It's a fact that 30 years ago a mockery of the law and judicial process was being committed by the solders and military courts in Japan and the Japanese government could do anything about it. Same stuff happened in the Philippines were local police were told to look the other way in the red light districts. What's the likely hood that any of this has really stopped? their is 50,000 solders and they mostly hang around the area close to the bases. It wouldn't be too hard to make good P.R. for this group. I wouldn't be surprised if the Okinawan police were told to layoff and let the MP's handle it. Of course I have no proof, but I'm a skeptical when the data is too rosy and doesn't match the norm.


2~3 weeks ago another attempted rape happened.

Here you are.
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/lovelovedog/20080218/beihei
You can still make an argument on the exact rate, but one thing for sure is that the average of American military personnel is not that much worse than the average of Japanese people in Okinawa even in the worst case scenario.

Many rape cases by 自衛官 are happening everywhere too. Including in 沖縄.
自衛官　強姦　の - Google Search

A military force needs to keep its autonomy, otherwise it can't do its job. 自衛隊 holds the same kind of autonomy when it goes abroad. That Japan does its own defense is nice. But it NEEDS to BE ABLE to do it. With the US withdrawing, China is already coming.
http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=201009/2...15&rel=j&g=soc

Unlike many people believe, the attack wouldn't start with bombing of Okinawa. It will start as "fishing boats" coming into the area, and they'll send some "guards" to protect these "fishing boats" in what they claim is their territory. China is doing it in Indonesia too.
インドネシア領ナトゥナ諸島 ラウト島 - Google Search

China is also taking full control of 南沙諸島 with pretty much the same tactics after the US military withdrew from Philippine.
http://www.recordchina.co.jp/group.php?groupid=38700

The issue is not the US not wanting to withdraw from Okinawa. It's doing it. It's Japanese absurd military policy that is making the area unstable. Japan doesn't need to physically increase its military force, but it needs to be able to actually use it, and that has nothing to do with the US. Actually, the US WANTS Japan to take on more military responsibilities. I believe the problem lies mainly in Japanese politics.

Cranks has supplied you the sources.

You have found that crime rates by soldiers stationed in Okinawa is lower than other parts in the world. Why is that fishy? Every time a crime is committed by an Okinawan soldier the base goes into lockdown. I remember a very public case about 15 years ago, and the local bars complaining that when the base goes into lockdown it really hurts local businesses, like bars, restaurants and other stores the soldiers would frequent.

You are not addressing my answers to your questions. You stated there was an accusation of attempted rape by a soldier in Okinawa in recent weeks (a tenuous statement at best... "Hey young lady, can I buy you a drink" can be construed as an attempted rape these days)... but I know of cases were ALTs (foreign English teachers) have been sent home for sexual assault.

Therefore should all ALTs be kicked out of Japan?

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department - Statistical data
統計（警察庁）

2009 number of crimes
1.Chinese 12572
2.Brazilian 4013
3.Korean 2588 :rolleyes:
4.Vietnam 1714
5.Filipino 1503
6.Columbia 723
7.Peruvian 674
8.Thai 484
9.Sri Lankan 353
10.Taiwanese 294
Others.2918

The United States was defeated. out of radar range:ywave:

sorta not
 

The EU is not a good example for SE Asia unless you have'nt followed what has happened to Greece earlier this year.

Why European Countries Are Like American Banks
by Andy Kessler
With Grecian urns, Irish eyes, Spanish flies, and Portuguese waterdogs all up to their eyeballs in debt, it’s only a matter of time before the whole venture implodes. Even after an almost trillion dollar bailout across Europe, Moody's Investors Service last week downgraded Greece's debt from A3 to Ba1--junk bonds.
You can bail out Wall Street banks and recapitalize their balance sheets and someday they can start lending again (we’re still waiting). On the other hand, you can’t really bail out a country without massive structural changes, cuts in entitlements, huge reduction in government as a percent of GDP, and a rewriting of the social contract between government and workers.

And NATO if you have'nt noticed is stuck in Afghanistan .

My ability to read Kanii is not strong. My point is , I don't trust data that comes from Okinawan police or U,S, MP. The data was tampered before, why is it accurate now?
United States Forces Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I remember that story: It uncovered that U.S. Military crimes were not being recorded and cases of obvious rape judged innocent. If you looked up U.S,. crime rate back then it would look rosy too.(BECAUSE THE DATA WAS CORRUPT!). Here is the link to 1995 story:
1995 Okinawa rape incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and here is the latest rape about 20 days ago:
Marine indicted on sexual assault and trespassing charges on Okinawa - Okinawa - Stripes


Last point. I'm in California(living here 20 years) and I don't know were the rest of you is at. But, the people in Okinawa or more precisely, the people that are coming into contact with the U.S,. forces are the backbones of this "get the U.S. bases out" movement. the people making a lot of money off the soldiers want them there of course, outside of the profiteers, if things are so rosy, why are the people living next to this bases the core of the voices that want U.S. bases gone? Data is not always reliable depending on the source, like "where are the WMDs??" but the opinion of a community usually was some reason for it.

If enough ALTs cause problems, there should be restrictions on visa, say interviews and questions to find out the type of person who wants this visa to Japan. The ones that do cause crimes should be dealt with as the law provides.

Well.. the idea of the EU is good, at least in so far as the idea of coming together to create something that can stand up to China and the US.

NATO in Afghanistan is bullshit. The Americans really had no right to activate the alliance considering the Taliban were offering up Osama bin laden immediately after 911. All a SE Asian alliance need do is make their mission more focused.

chiuchimu, most ALTs (all that I know of at least) have an interview before they are accepted.

I've heard of cases where Japanese men have raped Japanese children, and in the last year there have been plenty of cases of Japanese murdering other Japanese. I guess the only way to solve this problem is to remove all the Japanese from Japan...

sorta stuck
 

US bases are in Germany and Japan, Italy since the end of WW2 because these countries did'nt just lose the war? They unilaterally (pre-emptively) started a world war by attacking their neighbors. - quite a bit of a difference than just one side 'losing a war'.

Nato has been in Afghaniston since Dec 2001

Council on Foreign Relations
Analysis Brief NATO in Afghanistan
February 19, 2009
Greg Bruno

After seven years of urging coalition countries to beef up troop commitments in Afghanistan, Washington appears to have concluded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) cannot be relied upon to provide the "hard power" needed to counter Taliban gains.

"When the United States asks for a serious partner, it doesn't just want advice, it wants, and deserves, someone to share the heavy lifting," Scheffer told the annual NATO international security conference in Munich.

Ever since the toppling of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan fight has been seen as a test case for the sixty-year-old NATO alliance. Few would argue NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has passed the test. American troops joke that ISAF stands for "I Saw Americans Fight" (USNews).