TOKYO -- An Australian woman who was raped by a U.S. serviceman in Japan in 2002 recently spoke to Mainichi Shimbun. In the interview, she stated that the agreement between Tokyo and Washington over the status of U.S. military forces in Japan, which serves as the legal framework for their operations, "needs to be amended."

The U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), claimed to be a factor contributing to crimes, incidents and accidents involving the U.S. military in Japan, is drawing renewed attention.

This is due to the revelation of a series of sex crimes committed by members of the U.S. military in Okinawa Prefecture, where its bases are concentrated, and the inauguration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has expressed his desire to revise the agreement.

Tokyo resident Catherine Fisher was raped by a U.S. serviceman in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2002. She reported it to the police immediately afterward, but the perpetrator, initially unknown to her, was not indicted. She quickly filed a civil lawsuit and won a ruling from the Tokyo District Court that recognized her as a victim of sexual violence.

However, the serviceman had returned to his home country after the suit was filed, and his whereabouts was unknown. It took about 10 years for her to locate him, and she sued the man in the U.S. In 2013, finally succeeding in getting the man to admit responsibility for his crime.

Unnatural Article 16 of the SOFA

In the civil suit, the Tokyo court found that the serviceman was responsible for the sexual violence, but why was the case dropped by prosecutors? In the course of her own investigation, Fisher became aware of the existence of the SOFA, which grants privileges to the U.S. military. Under the agreement, Japanese investigative authority is insufficient.

For instance, even if members of the U.S. military commit a crime, in principle they cannot be arrested by Japanese police if they make it back to a U.S. base.

In fact, the prosecution rate of U.S. military personnel for criminal offenses was found to be lower than that of Japan as a whole.

Fisher also learned that a "secret agreement" had been made in the 1950s that U.S. military members would not be brought to trial in Japan unless the Japanese government considered the case of material importance to Japan.

What she found particularly problematic was how Article 16 of the SOFA only obligates members of the U.S. military to "respect" Japanese laws.

Why was the serviceman allowed to "escape" during his trial? Is there any way to bring him back to Japan? Recalling when she asked the Japanese government for help, she said, "Article 16 says 'respect the law of Japan,' and the Japanese government said, 'Well it doesn't say 'obey,' so we can't do anything. Sorry.'"

Outrage at the chain of injustice

The trial in the U.S. also found a fact that she could not overlook. The defendant revealed that he had fled Japan because he was told by the U.S. military lawyer to leave Japan immediately. Fisher, who felt that the U.S. military did not even respect Japanese laws and legal procedures, later learned that, as with her own case, there had been a string of cases in which perpetrators related to the U.S. military in Japan had returned home after being reported, allowing them to evade responsibility.

She then became convinced that the agreement does not obligate U.S. military personnel to follow Japanese laws, nor does it require them to follow Japanese legal procedures, and that the situation creates loopholes and a chain of injustice. She realized that this irresponsible system makes it difficult to eliminate crimes by U.S. military personnel.

For victims who cannot speak out

According to the National Police Agency, police across Japan uncovered 166 cases of sex crimes committed by individuals related to the U.S. military between 1989 and May 2024. In Okinawa Prefecture, an elementary school girl was assaulted in 1995, and a 20-year-old woman was raped and murdered in 2016.

Ever since her rape case in 2002, Fisher has continued to support victims of sexual violence using her own experience as a foundation for her work. She said that she came to realize in the course of her activities that victims of assault involving U.S. military members have been forced to accept what happened without adequate compensation.

The reason Fisher continues to testify in the media and at lectures, using her real name and not hiding her face, is in part because she is determined to be a voice for victims who are unable to speak out. For more than 20 years, she has been calling for a revision of the SOFA.

"The system not only fails to protect them; the perpetrators are able to flee Japan due to the Status of Forces Agreement, Article 16, which allows them to evade accountability," Fisher said. She insisted that the article must be rewritten to change the obligation imposed on U.S. military personnel from "respect the law of Japan" to "obey the law of Japan."

Don't want any other person to suffer

The Japanese government has stubbornly refused to comply with the demands of the Okinawa Prefectural Government, the National Governors' Association and others for an overhaul of the SOFA.

"I was so surprised that there were so many victims in Japan. All the crimes and incidents, murders and rapes. The Japanese government is doing nothing to stop the crimes," Fisher said. "The Status of Forces Agreement needs to amended immediately because time lost means lost lives.

If they don't change it today, someone will be murdered tomorrow. If they don't change it today, someone will be raped tomorrow."

(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Oba and Asako Takeuchi, Tokyo City News Department)