GEOFF BENNETT: A U.S.

Marine has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman, putting renewed pressure on an already sensitive U.S.-Japan military relationship.

Authorities are holding 20-year-old Lance Corporal Devin Ballard in the capital of Japan's Southern Okinawa Islands, where he was stationed.

Police found the body of a 39-year-old Okinawan woman at a hotel.

Japanese media reports say surveillance footage showed Ballard entering the hotel with the victim on Saturday and coming out alone.

The Japanese government has lodged a complaint with the U.S.

government and is demanding full cooperation with the investigation.

From Okinawa, special correspondent Patrick Fok explains how the case threatens to revive longstanding tensions over America's military presence in Okinawa, seen as one of America's most critical strategic outposts in Asia.

PATRICK FOK: Gone but not forgotten.

Okinawa native Takemasa Kinjo was in his final year of high school when his mother was murdered by a U.S.

Marine in their home more than 50 years ago.

TAKEMASA KINJO, Anti-Base Activist (through translator): Teachers had told us that something like this could happen to anyone.

But when my mother became a victim, I never imagined it would happen to my own family.

PATRICK FOK: Now, with the arrest of serviceman Devin Ballard over the alleged killing of a local woman, Kinjo says it shows the problems with the U.S.

military presence in Okinawa never went away.

TAKEMASA KINJO (through translator): The anger's really taken hold.

Now it's happening again.

I just can't forgive it.

Will it ever stop?

PATRICK FOK: U.S.

forces have been on this island for more than 80 years since the bloody Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

For the nearly 30 years that followed, the island was under direct U.S.

military rule.

During that time, it became a major hub for American forces in the region.

When the island was handed back to Japan in 1972, much of the U.S.

military presence stayed.

Today, Okinawa remains home to the vast majority of America's military bases in Japan.

But, for years, that heavy presence here has fueled local outrage tied to a long history of military accidents and high-profile crimes.

This latest case is testing Tokyo's ability to manage tensions with its most important security ally.

SHINJIRO KOIZUMI, Japanese Defense Minister (through translator): Such incidents are utterly unacceptable, and I am deeply outraged.

In response to this incident, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S.

side.

PATRICK FOK: Okinawans have been locked in a tug-of-war with the Japanese government over a plan to move the Futenma Air Base, where Ballard was stationed, to a base called Camp Schwab on the island's east coast.

Kinjo is among a group of islanders who fiercely oppose the relocation, demanding instead the U.S.

bases leave the island altogether.

They stage daily demonstrations outside Camp Schwab to try to stop its ongoing expansion.

TAKEMASA KINJO (through translator): They're pushing ahead with the work, and we're doing our utmost to delay it.

PATRICK FOK: Futenma Air Base has long been a symbol of local resentment towards the massive U.S.

footprint on Okinawa.

It's been called the most dangerous base in the world because of its close proximity to so many homes, schools, and businesses.

Not only does its location heighten the risk of accidents.

Residents have also had to endure the relentless noise of military aircraft flying directly over their neighborhoods.

But the boiling point came in 1995, when mass protests erupted after three U.S.

servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.

It resulted in the U.S.

agreeing to relocate its forces away from that base, but only once a fully operational replacement was completed.

So we have come onto this observation deck to get a better view of the Futenma Air Base.

That is the air base there in the distance.

Here, there is a sign detailing how Okinawa plans to use that land when it's given back to the island.

It includes green space, housing, businesses and community facilities, except, 30 years on, there's still no date for its closing, despite two more homicides linked to the U.S.

military in the past decade.

That's frustrating to locals like AI Oyafuso, another prominent anti-base activist here.

AI OYAFUSO, Anti-Base Advocate (through translator): My personal opinion is that none of these U.S.

bases belong here.

I see a huge problem with the way so much of our island is occupied and fenced up by the bases.

I can tell you from firsthand experience how these bases make our lives so difficult.

PATRICK FOK: She's the daughter of a U.S.

serviceman father and Okinawan mother, and believes the island has been negatively defined by its link to the military bases.

For generations, she told us, Okinawa has struggled to break free from that legacy, and it's been caught in the political crossfire between Tokyo and Washington.

AI OYAFUSO (through translator): People outside Okinawa may think we're simply opposed to having military bases here.

But, for us, the chain of problems caused by the bases is so deeply woven into our everyday life.

It's about the people living next door.

Our everyday lives have become political, and I think that's really important.

PATRICK FOK: But these bases are critical to U.S.

security in the Indo-Pacific, which is why Okinawa has become America's most important frontline military staging brand in Asia, even more right now as concerns grow over China's increasing military assertiveness and activity around nearby Taiwan, less than 500 miles away.

Okinawa's bases could provide a key staging point for U.S.

forces in the event of a Chinese attack on the island.

The U.S.

military's plans to keep its bases on Okinawa got a boost last month when voters elected a new governor.

Genta Koja campaigned on reviving the local economy and, in a sharp departure from his predecessors, supports the move of the U.S.

air base from Futenma to Camp Schwab on Henoko Bay.

Earlier today, he met with the senior us Marine commander on Okinawa, Benjamin Watson, who struck a conciliatory turn.

LT.

GEN.

BENJAMIN WATSON, U.S.

Marine Corps Forces, Japan, Commander: And I recognize that serious incidents cause significant concern and anxiety among the residents of Okinawa, who are our neighbors.

PATRICK FOK: The Okinawa governor conveyed the outrage of many on the island.

GOV.

GENTA KOJA, Okinawa Prefecture (through translator): Given that incidents of women being murdered took place in 2016 and 2019, the loss of an Okinawan life is deeply regrettable and fills me with immense anger.

PATRICK FOK: The new alleged murder brings the heavy burden of the U.S.

military presence back into sharp focus.

The bases may remain vital to America's strategy in Asia, but the scars they leave behind are proving harder to erase.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Patrick Fok reporting from Okinawa, Japan.