Behavior rules for off-duty U.S. troops in Japan under review

Officials are reviewing the off-base code of conduct for U.S. troops in Japan following the killing of an Okinawan woman, allegedly by a U.S. Marine, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-runs and drunk driving by U.S. military personnel have long triggered protests on the southern Japanese island, which has for years urged other regions of the country to share the burden of hosting U.S. troops. "We plan to hold discussions including whether the existing rules are effectively functioning," Motegi said, adding that "matters such as patrols and curfew management" would be under review in talks with the United States. The high-level bilateral consultations will examine off-duty conduct and the "liberty" policy governing off-base private activities of U.S. military personnel, he said. The existing policy, updated in 2024 following a string of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel in Okinawa, includes a ban on them drinking in public off-base between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. or going to bars during those hours. Devin Jacob Ballard, a U.S. Marine who has been in custody for an alleged robbery and murder of a woman on Japan's s...