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When will it stop? Effective yesterday, Marines throughout Japan are restricted to base and only authorized to commute to and from work and home by POV, taxi, or military transportation. The restriction will run at least until the 25th of February, at which point leaders will decide their next course of action. Japanese officials were pleased with the military decision to have a “period of reflection” and planned to continue discussions with US military leaders in Japan on short and long-term measures to curb the recent increase in military crime in Okinawa.

Unfortunately, just as things started to look up, another rape allegation came to light in Okinawa. CNN is reporting that a Filipino women reported being raped by a member of the US Army on Feb. 11th. No report has been made to the Okinawa law enforcement just yet, and US military investigators are looking into the allegations. At this point it is not known whether the suspect is a soldier or a civilian working for the Army.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I was shocked when reading of the first allegation, but this second one, especially at this point in time, completely blew my mind. I can’t help but wonder if there is an underlying problem that is directly attributing to the sudden spur of rape cases. I don’t mean to offend anyone, or be controversial, but hear me out. I highly doubt that there are many of the stereotypical rapes where the attacker does it by force. I wonder if it’s in fact due to something like a language or even a cultural difference. I am in no way trying to say rapists are victims of their situation or anything, but I think the cultural differences between Japan and the west might play a bigger role than people think. I’ll say this right now, at this point, I don’t think Tyrone Luther Hadnott raped anyone. I’m not siding with guy or anything, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. What kind of rapist chases his victim down because she forgot something in his car, and then attempts to get a phone number or address from his victim so they can meet again? I know we can be some real dumb asses sometimes, but it just doesn’t make sense that anyone would do that. She knew his name, where he lived, her friends saw them together, etc. So why would he really take a chance in doing something like that? I think there are three possible things that could have happened in this situation.

• First theory, he raped her. Plain and simple. I don’t necessarily believe it at this point, but I can’t deny it’s a possibility.

• Second, what turned into a joke about him giving her a ride home, ended up with the two of them alone in his place. She was with a gaijin, and a black man at that (it means something). Her friends saw them leave, and maybe she didn’t want her family to find out what she was up to? Maybe, the shame of her friends talking about it later at school would be too much for her to handle. Japan has a real problem with school bullying, and children committing suicide as a result of that bullying, so we can’t completely throw that out the window. Maybe when she called her friends, they started asking her what happened, and looking for a way to save face, she cried rape. Maybe she didn’t intend for it to leave her circle of friends, but someone told someone who told someone who knew what to do about it. This may seemed far fetched, but is it really that far-fetched?

• Finally, he admits to forcibly kissing her. This could be where the problem of cultural differences come in. In the states, some people can be aggressive, and it’s an accepted thing. How many movies have you seen where a man and a woman are arguing, the girls turns away, the man grabs her, spins her around, and forcibly kisses her? I haven’t read anything that actually said they had intercourse, so maybe he was just starting to get physical, heavy petting and whatever goes on at that point. Maybe she was too afraid to say anything for whatever reason, and kept quiet. Then at some point, it was too much and she wanted it to stop and ran away. Did she tell him “no” or “stop?” Only time will tell, but it could have just been he thought he was doing something that was fine, aside from her age of course (did he know her age for sure?), and she didn’t.

I know it may seem like a stretch, but we can’t just jump to the conclusion that he’s guilty. The Army-related guy, I have no idea. Until more information comes out about it, I’m not going to speculate on anything. I can only say that if there are any Japanese people who read my blog, please don’t fall into the mob mentality and immediately assume this guy is guilty, and that we’re all dangerous animals who will wreak havoc on your lovely country. Nearly all of us very much enjoy being here, learning about your country and traditions, and doing all we can to strengthen the friendships we have with Japan and its people. I know it is easy to just ignore it all and say he’s guilty and this that and the other thing, but you have to stand up for what is right. No one knows any real information about what happened that night, and this man should not be labeled as a criminal unless a fair trial proves otherwise. Just imagine if you were in his position, would you hope someone would fight for your right to be given a fair trial by a court of law, and not just public opinion?