U.S. Navy Takes Sailor Into Custody

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Navy Takes Sailor Into Custody
By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer

Friday, January 6, 2006

(01-06) 04:09 PST TOKYO, Japan (AP) --

The U.S. Navy has taken an American sailor into custody on suspicion of killing a Japanese woman near Tokyo, the U.S. military said Friday. A Japanese police spokesman said authorities have questioned him.

Yoshie Sato, 56, was found beaten and unconscious in Yokosuka on Tuesday, and later died of internal bleeding. Police believe she was attacked during a robbery on her way to work, according to news reports.

The case threatened to inflame opposition to plans to build an American military airstrip in the southern island of Okinawa and base a U.S. nuclear-powered warship at Yokosuka for the first time.
(snip)

The accord emerged after the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen on Japan's southern island of Okinawa. That case triggered massive protests and led to the relocation of an air base to a less populated part of the prefecture.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/06/international/i040935S30.DTL

[Judi Lynn]

1. U.S. Navy sailor questioned in Japan murder case

U.S. Navy sailor questioned in Japan murder case
Fri Jan 6, 2006 7:48 AM ET

By Linda Sieg
TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said on Friday it was holding a U.S. sailor suspected of involvement in the killing of a Japanese woman and ordered a "period of reflection" for its personnel, in an apparent effort to minimize diplomatic fallout.

Japanese media reported on Thursday that a U.S. sailor had confessed to killing Yoshie Sato, 56, on January 3 in Yokosuka City, where the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier is based, and that the sailor had been taken into custody by U.S. Naval authorities.

The incident comes at a delicate time as Tokyo and Washington seek to win agreement from local Japanese communities to plans to reorganize U.S. bases as part of Washington's global effort to transform its military into a more flexible force.
(snip)

Nearly 50,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Japan under the allies' bilateral security treaty.

Many in Yokosuka are also opposed to U.S. Navy plans to replace the aging conventionally powered Kitty Hawk with what would be the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be based in Japan, the only country ever hit by atomic bombs.
(snip/)

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=uri:2006-01-06T124812Z_01_EIC646046_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-JAPAN-USA.xml&pageNumber=1&summit=

[hijinx87]

6. I thought the problem that the japanese people had

with nuclear powered carriers was the possibility (or, during the cold war, the
probability) that they were carrying nuclear weapons. in fact, I seem to recall
them protesting the USS Midway years ago.

heck, the japanese operate nuclear power plants themselves.

[blueinindiana]

2. Navy needs to place Nuke Powered Carrier in Japan.

The Navy only has one conventional powered aircraft carrier left, the Kennedy i believe is the last one conventional left. It is too old so the Navy desperately needs to get one of the Nimitz class stationed there.


I know its not on topic but an ex sailor like myself still likes to talk shop now and then.

[Lochloosa]

3. Some of us that live near NAS Mayport would rather not have

a nuclear power plant next door to us.

[blueinindiana]

4. To be fair to Navy.

They do have a real good track record on Nuclear Safety.



Their has neve rbeen a major power plant problem on a Navy ship or at least one that was ever made public.

[Blue_Tires]

5. welcome to the site!

[0007]

7. Doesn't sound like a "Madam Butterfly" love story