In Japan, tens of thousands of people gathered on the island of Okinawa to demand the ouster of U.S. military bases.

Activists said 65,000 people attended what they called the largest protest in two decades against the U.S. military presence.

The protests erupted after a former marine working as a civilian contractor at a U.S. base was accused of raping and murdering a 20-year-old woman.

The victim’s father has called for the removal of all U.S. bases on Okinawa, which hosts about 26,000 U.S. troops.

At Sunday’s rally, Lia Camargo said U.S. soldiers should also be held accountable for their crimes.

Lia Camargo: "The slogans are like 'get the bases out of here,' but I don’t think it’s that simple. I think making sure that the responsibility of the soldiers, if they do commit a crime, that has to be weighed in the same gravity as a Japanese person who commits that same crime."

The U.S. and Australia have pushed back plans for the deployment of a 2,500-strong Marine Air Ground Task Force to Australia's Northern Territory until 2020 as they nail down the final details, including cost-sharing, Australian officials say.

The Marine Corps started building its presence in the port of Darwin in 2012 and grew its rotational force, which spends six months of the year training there, to just under 1,200 troops by 2014.

However, the growth of the force, which was to have included the task force within five years, has stalled with U.S. and Australian officials reporting only 1,250 Marines there this summer.

Australian Defence Force officials said in an email that they would work toward rotations of 2,500 Marines and equipment to Darwin by around 2020.

Australian national security consultant Ross Babbage said the two countries have been negotiating for three years over who would pay costs associated with the rotational force.

"There is no space on RAAF Darwin and Robertson Barracks (the facilities where Marines stay in Darwin) to facilitate that kind of growth (up to 2,500 Marines)"

PLANS to deploy additional Marines to the Top End continue to be delayed while Australia and the US figure out the final details.

The original plan was to have a 2500-strong Marine Air Ground Task Force in the Territory until 2020. However, issues such as cost-sharing have caused delays in the number of Marines who can be stationed in the Top End.

The NT News reported in April that one of the problems was which country would pay for the toilets, as well as other housing and utilities, including power and sewerage. It appears these negotiations are still continuing, with only 1250 Marines here this dry season.

US military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported Australian Defence Force officials said in an email the next rotation was still unclear.

The political situation in the US could also be playing a part in the delays, after Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump argued countries with a US military presence should be paying the United States.

Protests against American military presence in Japan continued on Saturday, as the country’s defense minister lodged a formal complaint over the latest case of alleged murder and rape of a young Japanese woman by a US military base employee.

Gen Nakatani visited the US Kadena Air Base on Saturday to formally protest the alleged crime to its commander Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson.

"I deliver a strong message of regret and at the same time make a protest,” he said as cited by the public broadcaster NHK.

Japanese officials including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed outrage over the latest in a string of crimes, which has been poisoning US-Japanese military ties for decades. The country’s Foreign Ministry filed a formal complaint over the case as well.

Critics of the deployment of US troops in Japan complain of the crimes committed by American personnel against local residents, environmental damage done by US bases and other negative sides. Okinawa Island hosts roughly half of all American troops in Japan, and sentiment against the arrangement are especially strong there.

A Marine three-star general pulled a Hawaii-based helicopter squadron from a spring deployment after two of its aircraft crashed off Oahu's coast in January, killing a dozen Marines.

Lt. Gen. John Toolan, the head of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, declined to send CH-53E Super Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 to Australia's Northern Territory as part of Marine Rotational Force–Darwin, said 1st Lt. Joseph Butterfield, a spokesman for 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

HMH-463 was one of two Hawaii-based helo squadrons slated to send detachments to Australia for six months starting in April. Toolan decided to keep HMH-463 at home and send more helicopters from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 instead, Butterfield said.

The commanding officer of HMH-463 was fired three days before the Jan. 14 crash after senior officials determined he had failed to keep the unit operating at acceptable standards. The investigation into the accident remains under investigation.

Before the deadly crash, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 was one of two squadrons that were slated to take part in the latest rotation of rotation of Marine Rotational Force–Darwin. Currently, four UH-1Y Venom helicopters from HMLA-367 are supporting the Marines in Darwin, he said. Last year, four CH-53Es from HMH-463 took part in the rotation. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser first reported on Toolan's decision last month.