"We will continue to do what we can to reduce our footprint on this island. We take seriously our responsibility to be good neighbors," US president Bill Clinton said in a speech during his Okinawa visit for the G8 summit on July 21, 2000. Clinton is the first US president to visit Okinawa since 1960, a trip that is believed to have stirred excitement among many Okinawa residents. Interestingly, US bases in Okinawa have downsized by only less than 1 percent since 2000, and US personnel have not met their responsibility to be "good neighbors."

According to the Asahi Shimbun, Okinawa police arrested Kenneth Shinzato, a former US Navy soldier and current employee at the US Kadena Air Base, on May 19 on suspicion of the murder and disposal of the body of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro, who had been reported missing in late April. In fact, such incidents frequently occur in Okinawa. The most serious crime dates back to 1995, when three American soldiers raped a 12-year-old primary school girl, which immediately triggered large-scale protests that saw more than 85,000 people. It is because of this incident that Okinawa residents have insisted for the past two decades that the Japanese government move US bases out of the prefecture.

Although Shinzato is not a US soldier, the death of young Shimabukuro has still roused dissatisfaction among local residents. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga on Monday  last week filed a strong complaint to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanding changes to the current Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Abe responded by saying that "I feel extremely strong anger against this selfish and hideous crime … I will ask [Obama] to take strict measures."

Okinawa has been long plagued by scandals involving US personnel. The root of these unscrupulous scandals is the inequality of the US-Japan alliance system. US personnel have squandered their privileges in Okinawa time and time again, which has led US soldiers to believe they are not stationed in, but "occupying" Okinawa, despite the prefecture being formally returned to Japan 44 years ago.

According to the Japan-US SOFA, the US has the right to exercise jurisdiction over US soldiers in cases of "offenses arising out of any act or omission done in the performance of official duty." For offenses that occur outside of official duties, the US can keep the accused soldier in custody until he or she is formally charged by Japan.

Although Shinzato is a civilian employee at the US base, the SOFA applies to Shinzato as well. Okinawa police arrested Shinzato. He could have also been arrested by US armed forces. This unequal agreement has protected US soldiers from Japanese justice, something that has irritated Okinawa residents as US-imposed punishments only scratch the surface. For instance, US military authorities simply imposed a curfew on all US soldiers after the appalling rape of a Japanese woman by two US sailors in 2012.

This latest incident occurred ahead of US President Barack Obama's Hiroshima visit, and has cast a shadow over the seemingly deepening US-Japan relationship. Earlier, Japanese media outlets were excitedly touting Obama's historic Hiroshima visit, which admittedly symbolizes US-Japan post-war reconciliation. However, the Okinawa incident has thrown a wet blanket over any such sentiments. If Hiroshima's pain is engraved deep in the Japanese consciousness, then Okinawa's traumas rub salt in those wounds. Japanese may feel relieved by the US president's historic Hiroshima visit, but the scandals in Okinawa are making Japanese face the fact that no matter how deep US-Japan relations are in the future, they will always be overshadowed by inequality.

The author is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Sociology at Toyo University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion