Also worth noting that Japan has seen a rise in far-right politics in recent years. Japan has always been extremely conservative, but the recent political push has politicians rumbling about amending their constitution to allow for a standing army. Part of the reason why the US is close military allies with Japan is because Japan’s constitution was rewritten after WW2, to prevent them from having a standing army. They’re only allowed a small self-defense force.

But incidents like this have consistently strained relations, to the point that most Japanese people actively distrust the US service members. The US has historically handled their own criminal charges via the UCMJ, but the American legal system is notably much more lax than the Japanese legal system. Japanese prisons are brutal and sentences tend to be harsh. The courts also have a near 100% conviction rate, so the public assumption is that if you get arrested, you definitely did it. There have been several instances of military members committing crimes outside the base, then essentially fleeing back to the base where they know the Japanese authorities can’t reach them. So even when service members are found guilty, Japanese people still feel like the American got off too easy.

And incidents like this inevitably end up being fuel for the far-right politicians who want to kick out the foreigners and reinstate their own standing army.