TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. military has eased restrictions on daytime travel off bases on the southern island of Okinawa that were imposed after a Marine was arrested for allegedly raping a young girl, officials said Tuesday.

Charges were never pressed.

Tight restrictions on all military personnel, including civilian employees, were put into place after the allegations arose as part of a two-week "period of reflection," an effort by the military to enforce discipline core values.

Restrictions remain on off-base activity at night for military personnel, but not for civilians. New restrictions on off-base drinking have been added for the troops, however, the Marines said in a statement.

"As we begin to venture outside our gates, I remind all of you that we are guests in Japan and must represent our nation with the utmost pride, professionalism and respect for our hosts," Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer said. "Please look out for one another."

Concern over U.S. military-related crime has spiked since the arrest last month of a Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old Okinawan girl. The girl, however, dropped her allegations and Japanese police released him last week, though U.S. military authorities were investigating.

Some 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security treaty, most of them on the southern island of Okinawa.

Okinawan officials, meanwhile, called on the U.S. military Tuesday to seek the introduction of thorough measures to prevent crime by military members.

They called for more education programs for U.S. troops and harsher punishments, according to Munehide Taira of Okinawa prefectural government.

The Okinawan officials were also to visit the U.S. consulate general and Japanese government offices in Okinawa later in the day to make similar requests, he said.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment

---

Share this article