JETteacher48 comments

If you're looking for a reason that the US military personnel have been stereotyped as brutal thugs, you have no farther than to look at the innate xenophobic attitudes inherent in a homogenous culture. Are crimes committed by US military personnel in Japan? Of course there are, no one debates that. However, anytime this does occur, the story blankets the media where anti-American sentiments can point to it and say, "Look, we told you so! Throw those horrible Americans out!" Exactly the same thing happens in South Korea. What they fail to realize is, that under the SOFA agreement, if the Diet really didn't want the US to maintain bases in Japan, all they have to do is not renew the treaty. But, of course, if that happened, Japan would have to assume responsibility for its own national defense in the face of growing regional assertiveness from China. So there's your options citizens of Japan: live with the US and try not to take every instance of a young fool as an affront to your national honor, or deal with the possibility of Chinese power marginalizing your interests and influence in Asia for perpetuity.