TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday told Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja that Japan intends to take preventive steps with the United States after the alleged murder-robbery of a local woman by a U.S. Marine in the southern island prefecture.

Speaking in their first face-to-face meeting since the incident over the weekend, Takaichi said her government intends to further advance discussions with the United States on "what effective measures can be taken to prevent such incidents from occurring."

Koja said at the talks in Tokyo that the case was "absolutely unforgivable" and has left residents in his prefecture, home to many U.S. military installations, worried. He called for full U.S. cooperation in the investigation.

The governor also demanded the early convening of the Okinawa Policy Council, a joint body of the central and Okinawa governments that has not held meetings for over a decade, to discuss measures to lessen the burden on the prefecture of hosting U.S. military bases and to revive the local economy.

Koja told reporters after the meeting that Takaichi had said she intends to "take the request seriously and respond appropriately."

Earlier on Wednesday, he also met with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, saying "effective and fundamental" measures are needed. Koizumi said the government would discuss with the United States steps to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

"Every time an incident occurs, we have been calling for measures to prevent a recurrence. I cannot help but say that the U.S. military's enforcement of discipline and human rights education are not functioning at all," Koja said at the outset of the talks with Koizumi at his ministry.

In a separate meeting, Motegi told Koja that Tokyo and Washington would "discuss the matter closely in order to take effective measures," and stressed that reducing the burden on Okinawa is "one of the government's most important priorities."

According to police, Devin Ballard, who is stationed at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the prefectural capital Naha the previous day. He has denied the allegations.

Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, Japan has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed by off-duty U.S. service members.

Under the pact, if the suspect is in U.S. custody, as a general rule, the U.S. authorities detain the suspect until indictment. But Ballard is in Japanese custody as Okinawa police arrested him off-base.

The Japanese government has lodged a strong protest with the United States and urged it to fully cooperate with the investigation and enforce strict discipline among its military personnel, with Takaichi calling the case a "heinous crime."

The Okinawa area coordinator of U.S. Forces Japan has said the U.S. military in Okinawa will impose a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. for 30 days from Friday.

Past crimes involving U.S. military personnel, including those against women and girls, have angered residents of Okinawa. The prefecture was under U.S. control between 1945 and 1972 following Japan's defeat in World War II and still hosts the bulk of the facilities exclusively used by U.S. Forces Japan.

The 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen sparked public anger that helped spur a 1996 agreement between Tokyo and Washington to return the site of the Futenma base after its relocation.

But the transfer from a densely populated area in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area of Nago has yet to be completed as many Okinawans are opposed to the plan and want the base moved outside of the prefecture.

Koja won a landslide victory in the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election with the backing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Takaichi, beating incumbent Denny Tamaki, an opponent of relocating the Futenma base within Okinawa.