Japan's Supreme Court Upheld the Sentence

Japan’s Supreme Court upheld the condemnation of an American Air Force serviceman stationed in Okinawa, who was sentenced to five years in prison for the abduction and sexual assault of a girl under 16 in 2023.

In a decision handed down on Saturday, the Second Division of the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of defendant Brennon Washington, a serviceman stationed at Kadena Air Base.

Despite the 26-year-old defendant maintaining his innocence, claiming he was unaware of the girl being underage and that the acts were consensual, the Naha District Court sentenced him to five years in prison in 2024, finding the girl’s testimony credible. In 2025, the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch upheld this decision.

According to the verdict, Washington asked the girl to come to his car for a conversation in a park on December 24, 2023. He then drove her to his home and sexually assaulted her.

The case not only sparked a new wave of anti-base sentiment in the prefecture, which houses the majority of U.S. military installations in Japan, but also became controversial because local police and the central government failed to inform prefectural authorities.

Three months after Washington was indicted, local media reported on the incident, prompting the central government to revise its information-sharing procedures with local authorities to ensure they are notified of any crimes allegedly committed by U.S. military personnel.