Drinking Ban Lifted for US Sailors in Japan After Less Than a Month

— -- A short-lived drinking ban for American sailors in Japan has been lifted, the U.S. Navy announced on Monday, as tensions continue to rise over U.S. military presence in Japan.

The alcohol prohibition came earlier this month, following an incident involving a U.S. sailor driving the wrong way on a freeway while allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

The Navy subsequently banned all U.S. sailors in Japan from drinking "on and off base," on June 6, "as response to a recent trend of alcohol-related incidents detrimental to the U.S.-Japan Alliance."

The Navy announced Monday that it had lifted the off-base drinking ban.

“Over the past few weeks, the performance of Sailors across Japan has been outstanding,” Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, the commander for U.S. Naval Forces Japan, said in a statement. “They recognize that liberty is a mission, especially here in Japan. They know that their performance in this mission area has a direct impact in preserving the vital strategic relationship with the Japanese, and preserving peace and stability in the Western Pacific.”

Early Sunday morning, one day before the drinking ban was lifted, an American civilian worker at a U.S. base in Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and causing a two-car collision, the Japan Times reported.

Much of the tension between the U.S. military and Japanese civilians has arisen on the sub-tropical island of Okinawa, where about half of U.S. personnel in Japan are located, according to the Congressional Research Service.

More than 60,000 people protested in Okinawa earlier this month after a former U.S. Marine was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a local woman, the Associated Press reported.

To show respect "for the loss our friends in Okinawa recently experienced," the U.S. Navy announced a restriction on the use of fireworks in all U.S. bases Japan on the Fourth of July.