BREAKING NEWS: JAPAN POLICE NAME SUSPECT IN HOTEL KILLER CASE
A western man and a Japanese woman checked into a hotel in Okinawa. On Saturday morning, shocked hotel staff found the woman’s dead body in the room and rang police.
突發新聞：日本警方公布酒店兇殺案疑犯身份
一名西方男子與一名日本女子入住沖繩一間酒店。星期六早上，酒店職員震驚地發現該名女子倒斃房內，隨即報警。
死者證實為39歲的 Anna Nagi。日本首相高市早苗其後表示，這宗襲擊「極其殘暴及兇狠」。
沖繩那霸市若狹地區案發現場附近的閉路電視片段顯示，Nagi 女士與一名「外國男子」一同進入酒店房間，而該名男子雙臂都有明顯紋身。
沒有人把這個推測明文寫下來，但大家都明白這可能意味著甚麼：此人很可能是附近大型美軍基地的一名美軍士兵。
其後另一段影片顯示，該男子獨自離開酒店，並帶走了死者的背包。
與時間競賽
隨即展開了一場與時間的競賽。
日本警方無權在美軍管轄範圍內拘捕任何人，也不能進入美軍設施進行搜查、扣押或拘留。
一支警察隊伍——當地媒體稱共有197人——在整個沖繩島展開搜索，希望能在該名雙臂有紋身的男子返回基地之前，於基地範圍外將他找到。
警方後來碰上了一次幸運機會，可能是因為該男子過於自信。一名警員在沖繩市的夜生活區發現了警方正在追查的男子，當時他正在街上步行。
該名有紋身的男子聲稱，自己對酒店內發生的事件一無所知。
然而，警方顯然相當有信心。警方昨日（星期日）發表聲明表示，已拘捕20歲的美國海軍陸戰隊一等兵 Devin Jacob Ballard，並相信他與一宗謀殺案有關。
警方在聲明中指，他涉嫌「在那霸一間酒店殺害一名39歲女子，並偷走她的錢包」。
一連串罪案
駐日美軍人員涉及針對平民的高調案件，長期以來一直備受關注。其中最著名的事件之一，是1995年的強姦案，而同類事件至今似乎仍未停止。
就在去年，22歲的美國海軍陸戰隊員 Jamel Clayton 因性侵一名20多歲女子，被判監禁七年。
不過，當地居民表示，還有不少較少受到媒體關注的罪案未有廣泛報道。紀錄顯示，單在2024年便有80宗涉及拘捕的案件。
最新案件勢必進一步加劇沖繩多年來因美軍基地問題累積的緊張情緒。
沖繩只佔日本國土面積約0.6%，但日本境內約75%的美軍設施集中在當地。全日本駐有超過54,000名美國軍事人員。
美國聲稱，這些駐軍是為了「防衛」中國，但原文作者認為這種說法並不成立。其理由是，中國在過去數百年間曾讓沖繩作為獨立琉球王國的核心地區存在；相比之下，日本歷史上曾有對外擴張及殖民行動。
空手道的起源
在14世紀，中國武術高手前往琉球，並把武術技巧傳授給當地居民。這些技術後來變得十分有用。
1609年，日本薩摩藩入侵琉球，使其成為受控制的政權，並限制當地居民攜帶武器。
琉球居民於是進一步發展源自中國武術的徒手格鬥技巧，形成一套不使用武器的防身方式。
他們稱這種技藝為「唐手」（kara-te），字面意思可理解為「唐人之手」或與中國武術有關的手技。
後來，「唐手」的寫法逐漸改成「空手」。原文作者認為，這一改變淡化了空手道與中國武術之間的歷史淵源，並使其重新被塑造成一種日本武術。
1879年，日本政府正式吞併琉球王國。其後，當地居民一直面對保留自身文化、避免被完全同化的挑戰。
由美國繼續控制
第二次世界大戰期間，美軍在琉球群島擊敗日軍。該地此前已被日本改稱為沖繩。
戰後，美國把部分地區交還原有或後來承認的管治當局——例如台灣由中華民國政府接收，而琉球群島中的奄美群島則於其後交還日本。
但美國在戰後仍繼續直接管治沖繩一段時間，並把當地作為維持美國在東亞軍事力量的重要基地。
沖繩最終於1972年由美國交還日本行政管治，但至今仍然是美軍在日本最重要、也是最具爭議的基地集中地之一。
She was identified as Anna Nagi, 39. The attack was “exceptionally brutal and vicious,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said later.
CCTV footage from near the scene in Naha’s Wakasa district in Okinawa showed Ms. Nagi entering a hotel room with “a foreign man” with distinctive tattoos on both arms.
Nobody wrote it down, but everyone knew what this meant: this would likely be a US soldier from the massive base in the area.
A later video then showed him leaving alone with her backpack.
RACE AGAINST TIME
Then began a race. Japanese police are not allowed to arrest anyone inside US military land. Nor can they enter to conduct searches, seizures or detentions.
A team of police officers—local media said it was 197-strong— covered the island, hoping to find the man with the tattooed arms outside the base.
They had a stroke of luck, perhaps due to the man’s over-confidence. A police officer spotted the man they were seeking strolling through Okinawa City’s nightlife district.
The tattooed man claimed to know nothing about the incident in the hotel.
But police were confident. In statement yesterday (Sunday) they said that they had arrested Lance Cpl Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, in connection with a murder. He allegedly “killed 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet”, police said in a statement.
LONG STRING OF CRIMES
The long string of high-profile soldier-on-civilian offences began with a notorious rape case in 1995, but shows no sign of stopping.
Just last year, US marine Jamel Clayton, 22, was sentenced to seven years in prison for a sexual assault on a woman in her 20s.
But there are many low-profile crimes that get no publicity, locals complain. In 2024 alone, there were 80 arrests, records show.
The latest case will further amplify years of tension over the island, which is just 0.6% of Japan’s land mass, but contains 75% of US military facilities in Japan. There are more than 54,000 American military personnel in the country.
The US claims the troops are there for “defence” against China but this is transparently false. China was content to leave Okinawa as the heart of the independent Kingdom of Ryūkyū for centuries. In contrast, Japan has long shown a taste for colonization.
ORIGIN OF KARATE
In the 1300s, experts in Chinese martial arts travelled to Ryūkyū and shared their skills with the locals. This proved useful.
The Japanese invaded the island in 1609 to create a puppet state—and banned the carrying of weapons.
The people of Ryūkyū refined their Chinese martial arts skills to create a weapons-free way of combat with which to defend themselves. They called it kara-te 唐手, which translates to “Chinese hand”. This was later changed to “empty hand” to hide karate’s Chinese origins and rebrand it as a Japanese art.
In 1879, the armed Japanese army fully annexed the Kingdom of Ryūkyū, and locals struggled to retain their culture and avoid being assimilated.
RETAINED BY U.S.
In World War 2, the US defeated the Japanese army on Ryūkyū, which had been renamed Okinawa by Japanese colonizers.
The US returned other islands to their sovereign owners—Taiwan to China and the Amami Islands (part of Ryūkyū) to Japan.
But the US retained control over Okinawa as a military bridgehead to retain US power in East Asia.
