Outrage in Japan as U.S. Marine veteran arrested in connection with death of woman on Okinawa

Japanese leaders reacted with outrage after a U.S. Marine veteran was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of a Japanese woman near a U.S. air base on the island of Okinawa.

Kenneth Franklin Gadson, a 32-year-old civilian contractor at Kadena Air Base, admitted to strangling the woman, his defense attorney told Stars and Stripes — though the attorney questioned the condition under the which the admission was made.

Rina Shimabukuro had been missing since last month. The 20-year-old’s body was discovered in a wooded location Thursday after Gadson told investigators where to look, according to the Associated Press.

I have never been to Germany. I have family living there as well as friends who have been there. The Germans are taught about their WWII atrocities and are never allowed to forget them.

However, I have lived in Japan. I have spent a total of 4 years on Okinawa. Two separate 6 months tours as a Marine grunt and a 3 year tour as a dependent spouse. I don't need to say which tour was more enjoyable and enlightening.

From late 95 to early 99 I was there with my wife and daughter. My girl was 4 months old when we arrived and I was the one who took care of her. Having a blond blue eyed baby makes you an instant hit with the locals. I used to get ambushed by groups of Japanese girls who would politely ask to hold her and then they would proceed to crowd around her or pass her around. I spent more time off base then on.

But getting to my point is that we arrived 2 months after a Navy Corpsman (corpseman in Obama world) and 2 Marines kidnapped and raped a 12 year old girl. I had only heard the basic details about the incident. The locals went ape shit, as they should have, and it was made into an international incident.

Upon arrival to Okinawa my wife's unit sent a sponsor, a Marine Gysgt, to pick us up and settle us in. He was married to a local and could speak Japanese and read a little. He was the kind of Marine that we called "homesteaders". He stayed on the Island as long as he could until he was rotated back to the states for a three year tour.

He was not particularly outraged about the rape incident. He did think, as I did , that the offending trio should be strung up by their balls. The reason he was not so outrage was he watched the local news and his wife would read the papers. He said that among the locals this would not have been such a big deal if it were Jap on Jap. But since it was 3 black American serviceman the locals went ape shit. He also told me that incestuous rape was more common than known to outsiders because it was something that was hidden and handled locally. He never said anything to me but I got the feeling he did not trust a couple of his wife's male relatives with his children.

The Japanese for the most part are pretty racist. Especially when it comes to blacks.

Let me get to my second point. I enjoyed my three year "civilian" tour. All the Marine Corps B.S. restrictions did not apply to me. In short, I had fun.

I ran with a group called The Okinawa Hash House Harriers. It was a fun group that included a lot of locals. It was mostly comprised of Marines and Airmen but there were also DOD teachers, DOD contractors, etc.

I got to know a lot of locals very well. I found out that unlike the Germans, the Japanese were not taught about their brutal past in WWII. The Japanese had basically wiped their minds and history free of it. The atrocities of the Japanese was not spoken about by the ones who knew about it. If you told some of these young Japanese what happened during WWII they would be shocked and may not believe you. The post WWII generation in Japan views WWII as just a war they had and nothing else.

Very different culture than ours but I had to admire the majority of it. I could wright all day about it but I do not want to bore you any further.

Hang em' high.

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