Authorities were yesterday searching for a US sailor in Japan after his credit card was reportedly found in the car of a taxi driver who was stabbed to death.
The case comes with relations between Japan and the US military tense, following a series of high-profile crimes linked to servicemen, including the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by a Marine.
Masaaki Takahashi, a 61-year-old taxi driver, was found dead with a knife in his neck in his parked taxi late on Wednesday on a road in Yokosuka, a military hub at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, police said.
"The US forces contacted me and informed me that a US soldier may have been involved in the murder case in Yokosuka," Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters.
He declined to elaborate.
The US military pledged to cooperation on the case.
"We condemn this horrific crime in the strongest possible terms," the US Navy command in Japan said in a statement.
"The US Navy is standing by to help with the Japanese police and in whatever manner is needed," it said.
Local media said a credit card and other items were found in the car that were believed to belong to a 22-year-old sailor.
The sailor, part of the US 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka, had been missing for weeks before the incident and remains unaccounted for, television networks said.
Reports said Takahashi, who was based in Tokyo, some 65km to the north, may have argued with his customer over the fare, which police said was about 17,000 yen (US$170).
More than 40,000 US troops are based in Japan under a security alliance with the close US ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II.
But the military's reputation has been severely tarnished recently after a series of crimes.
The US military next month will court-martial four Marines accused of gang-raping a 19-year-old woman in the western city of Hiroshima.
Another US Marine was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa, home to more than half the US forces in the country. Japanese prosecutors dropped the case as the girl did not want to pursue it amid intense media attention.
Residents of Okinawa have called a rally at which they hope to draw more than 10,000 people tomorrow to protest crimes and accidents by US soldiers and military personnel.
An Australian woman who was raped by a US sailor in Yokosuka in 2002 said that she would make a speech and call for action to stop crimes by US servicemen.
On Sunday alone in Okinawa, two taxi drivers were allegedly attacked by English-speaking passengers, police said.
In one case, police arrested two children of US soldiers, while in the other police were asking for investigative cooperation from the US military.
The US military last month put all troops and their relatives in Okinawa and western Japan's Iwakuni under a curfew for nearly two weeks in an attempt to calm public anger.
It lifted part of the curfew restricting family members earlier this month.
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