New US Ambassador to Japan Mr Howard Baker stepped off his plane today and into a simmering diplomatic row, swiftly pledging co-operation with police who want to arrest a US airman in the rape of a young Japanese woman.
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Okinawa has played host to 26,000 US troops since World War Two.
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Just hours earlier, the commander of US forces on Japan's southern Okinawa island voiced his deep regret over the incident after fingerprints found on a car hood led police to demand the US military hand over US air force Sergeant Timothy Woodland in the alleged rape of the young woman early last Friday.
"As President (George W.) Bush said, and I repeat, we express regret, sincere regret about this incident," Mr Baker said upon his arrival at Tokyo's Narita airport. He promised full co-operation in finding the facts and dealing with the situation.
The latest in a string of offences by US forces on the island could trigger yet more local demands from residents fed-up with the military presence for a reduction in the huge bases that cover 20 percent of Okinawa land.
Scores of Japanese activists held a rally at the main gates of Kadena Air Base, demanding the complete removal of US troops and military bases from Okinawa.
If US officials comply with Japanese police demands to arrest Sergeant Woodland, it would be the second time US forces in Japan have handed over a serviceman to Japanese investigators before formal charges have been filed.
An arrest warrant was issued late on Monday for Woodland after police said they had found his fingerprints on a car at the crime scene along with the prints of the woman.
The woman, in her 20s, told investigators she had been raped by a black foreigner in the early hours of Friday in the parking lot of the American Village shopping district in Chatan, some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo.
Sergeant Woodland has denied the rape. Jiji news agency quoted him as telling police he had consensual sex with the woman.
The incident escalated late yesterday when Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Yutaka Kawashima summoned U.S. charge d'affaires Richard Christianson to demand the U.S. military hand over the airman.
US President Bush voiced deep regret over the incident, but gave no sign he was ready to agree to a reduction in the 26,000 US troops to which a reluctant Okinawa has played host since World War Two.