US Marine's arrest for strangling Japanese woman triggers month-long Okinawa curfew and booze ban

From the Newshound archive · first published 6 October 2026 · last updated 8 October 2026.

Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, in her hotel room in Naha before stealing her wallet and fleeing to a nearby entertainment district, where a patrol officer found him the same night. The US military has imposed a 48-hour operational pause with a total alcohol ban, followed by a month-long midnight-to-5am curfew across all Okinawa bases. Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has summoned the US Ambassador and lodged a formal protest demanding stricter discipline and measures to prevent repeat incidents.

Security camera footage reportedly showed Ballard entering the hotel with Yagi and leaving alone, according to Japanese media.

Okinawa already recorded more than 100 crimes by US military personnel and their families last year, and locals remain furious over decades of incidents on the island.

'Unforgivable,' say residents — with the killing reopening wounds from 1995, when mass protests erupted after three US servicemen kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old girl.