A hotel employee found Anna Yagi, 39, unconscious after she failed to check out of a hotel in Naha in the early hours of Saturday. Yagi was discovered in the room where she had died.
Police allege that Yagi was killed between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Saturday. She had gone to the hotel with a man seen in security footage, police said.
The footage showed a man leaving the hotel alone carrying Yagi’s belongings. Her purse and backpack were missing from the room and were later found near the hotel.
Later on Saturday, police detained Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old US Marine and lance corporal stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, after spotting him in Naha’s entertainment district. He was arrested on suspicion of robbing and murdering Yagi.
Ballard denied the allegations, according to Okinawa police. Police expected to refer his case to the Naha Public Prosecutors Office within 48 hours.
The hotel stands six miles south of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, where Ballard is stationed.
Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, registered a protest with the United States after the arrest.
George Glass, the US ambassador, offered sincere condolences and pledged full cooperation as the investigation continues.
The case has renewed tensions over the US military presence in Okinawa, where crimes involving American personnel have repeatedly prompted protests. The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa.
Okinawa hosts a significant American military presence, including the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installations Pacific. Futenma is located in a densely populated area, and a plan exists to move the air base to a less populated part of Okinawa’s main island.
The anger has deep roots. In 1955, a five-year-old girl was raped and murdered by a US soldier near Kadena air base.
In 1995, three US servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl, triggering mass protests. A soldier was charged with the sexual assault of a teenager in 2024.
Those cases sit alongside a broader record of rapes, assaults, hit-and-run incidents and drink-driving accidents involving US personnel, all of which have long fuelled opposition to the American military presence on the islands.
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