1996 Padilla car crash

Lori Padilla, a member of the United States Marine Corps in Okinawa, was speeding in a car which swerved off the road, killing Rojita Kinjo and her young daughters Mitsuko and Mariko.

[1] The crash sparked outrage in Okinawa and strengthened opposition to the U.S. military presence in Japan, which was already facing scrutiny over the 1995 Okinawan rape incident that occurred only a few months earlier.

At around 1 p.m. on Sunday, January 7, 1996, a car driven by Lori Padilla, a 20-year-old Lance Corporal of the United States Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa as part of the United States Forces Japan, crashed at the Kitamae gate to Camp Foster on Route 58, located on Okinawa Island in Japan.

Padilla and passenger Carrie Smith, a 21-year-old Private First Class in the US Marines, were slightly injured and taken to a United States Navy hospital.

[3] The Padilla crash was the second of three notorious events of misconduct by United States servicemen in Okinawa during the mid-to-late 1990s which strengthened opposition to American military presence in Japan.