Japan arrests trespassing US serviceman

An American serviceman has been arrested in Japan’s Okinawa Island over allegations of trespassing into a local man’s home while drunk.

US Army serviceman Zakaly Fuller from the military base in Okinawa was detained for trespassing on a resident’s home in the southernmost Okinawa prefecture, police officials said Friday.

The Japanese owner of the house in Chatan Town called law enforcement immediately when Fuller walked in.

During a police interrogation, Fuller admitted only to going into the perimeter of the building and has denied being drunk.

US servicemen stationed in Japan have had a long history of misconduct in the country.

US soldiers have been arrested for misconducts and defying a night-time curfew imposed by the US military after two US soldiers allegedly raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa on October 16, 2012.

On January 13, a drunken 24-year-old US officer was arrested in Yokosuka after he broke into a house. A US Marine was also arrested for allegedly entering an apartment building in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, in December 2012.

Around 47,000 US military personnel are currently stationed in Japan. Some half of the US troops are stationed in Okinawa, where the soldiers have reportedly committed more than 5,800 crimes since Washington returned the island to Japan in 1972.

Local residents have often complained to Japanese officials about US troops but are often ignored.