Tens of thousands of Japanese staged an impassioned protest in Okinawa on Sunday as anger intensified over the suspected rape and killing of a local woman by a former US marine employed at the Kadena air force base.
The demonstrations, in which thousands held placards that read “enough is enough”, further highlighted the difficulties faced by Shinzo Abe, prime minister, as he sought to navigate both a strained US-Japan relationship and embittered domestic politics in Okinawa itself.
Mr Abe, whose attempts to reinterpret Japan’s pacifist constitution have played especially badly in Okinawa, faces explicit calls from locals for a complete pullout of the US military.