Assessing the Status of Forces Agreement in Okinawa, Japan

The Japanese prefecture of Okinawa is a contradiction. A peaceful, idyllic tourist destination for beachgoers today, in 1945 Okinawans suffered through a four-month battle where hundreds of thousands of civilians died by American bombs, suicide, and at the hands of their Japanese soldier countrymen. For nearly thirty years afterwards, Okinawans used the U.S. dollar as citizens of an occupied territory. Today, Okinawa hosts over seventy percent of the U.S. military in Japan. Incidents in Okinawa between U.S. military personnel and accompanying civilians unsurprisingly become international incidents, testing the U.S.-Japan alliance. This thesis details Okinawa’s history, the violence perpetrated by U.S. military personnel, and the Status of Forces Agreement (“SOFA”) that surrounds and governs Okinawa’s “military base problem.” It suggests jurisdictional reforms in criminal prosecutions and in accident investigations, concluding with proposed changes to the U.S. military criminal justice system to lead to greater accountability for servicemembers accused of sexual violence