An American tourist has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and arson after allegedly setting fire to a hotel in Okinawa where he was staying, with 18 other guests inside.
Posedion Roberson is accused of deliberately starting the blaze at Hotel Hamby Resort in Chatan at around 3:30 a.m. on August 15. Police allege that the 32-year-old knew other guests were inside and set the fire intending to kill them.
Several fire engines responded to the blaze, which broke out during the busy Obon holiday period and took around four hours to extinguish. By the time it was brought under control, roughly half the building and a nearby vehicle had burned.
One guest, a 55-year-old man from Osaka, was found unconscious after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning and airway burns. He was initially hospitalized in critical condition but has since regained consciousness and is reportedly recovering.
Others escaped with help from people at the scene, including US Marine Lance Cpl. Marshall Martinez, who was walking nearby when he saw the fire and entered the hotel to wake sleeping guests.
The Arrest
Roberson, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found.
On August 21, six days after the fire, police found him inside a building complex in Urasoe and arrested him on suspicion of trespassing. While he remained in custody, investigators linked him to the hotel fire, and on September 1 he was rearrested on suspicion of attempted murder and arson of an occupied building.
Much remains unknown. Police have not disclosed how the fire allegedly started, what evidence led police to identify Roberson as a suspect or whether he has admitted or denied the allegations. No motive has been made public, though investigators are reportedly looking into possible trouble involving Roberson and guests staying at the hotel.
An American Arrest in Okinawa
Roberson’s nationality carries particular resonance in Okinawa, where crimes involving US military personnel have been a source of tension for decades. From Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 1972 to the end of 2015, police recorded 574 serious crimes involving US service members, civilian employees and dependents — among them 26 murders, 129 rapes and 25 cases of arson.
More recently, Okinawa police logged 101 criminal offenses involving US military personnel in 2025 alone — the first time the annual count has topped 100 in 22 years. A succession of high-profile sexual assault cases has led to protests and renewed demands to revise the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement.
Roberson’s case, however, sits somewhat unusually within that history. While he has no reported military affiliation, one of those who came to the aid of guests during the fire happened to be a US Marine stationed in Okinawa.
That distinction matters legally, too. Roberson is not covered by the Status of Forces Agreement and, as a civilian accused of crimes committed in Japan, falls under the Japanese criminal justice system. If convicted, he would ordinarily serve his sentence in a Japanese prison.
Roberson’s arrest also comes amid heightened scrutiny of crimes and misconduct involving foreign tourists as Japan welcomes record numbers of international visitors. Recent high-profile cases have involved everything from vandalism to theft, though the allegations against Roberson are of a markedly different order.
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Updated On September 3, 2026
