TOKYO » The U.S. Navy in Japan has eased a ban on drinking imposed after an American sailor was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Okinawa.

U.S. Naval Forces Japan said in a statement Friday that sailors are now allowed to drink on base as well as at their off-base houses. Other drinking off-base is still prohibited.

The restrictions were imposed on June 6 after the sailor drove the wrong way on a freeway and hit two other vehicles, injuring two people in the other cars.

The incident further fueled anti-U.S. base sentiment on the southern Japanese island that is home to about half the 50,000 American troops based in Japan.

Separately, a U.S. military contractor in Okinawa has been arrested on suspicion of raping and killing a woman.

In a separate case, Japanese police on June 9 said a U.S. military contractor arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of a young woman on Okinawa is now officially the prime suspect in her murder and rape.

The arrest took up a significant part of a Japan-U.S. summit that was held a week later, causing President Barack Obama to apologize. The U.S. military in Okinawa issued an order two days later on June 11 restricting celebrations and off-base drinking.

Police arrested 32-year-old Kenneth Shinzato, who is also a former Marine, on May 19 after he told investigators where they could find the woman’s body in a forest, three weeks after she disappeared. An autopsy on the decomposed body could not determine the cause of death.

Police said that Shinzato hit the 20-year-old woman on the head with a club, dragged her into the weeds and raped her, while strangling her and stabbing her with a knife. Kyodo News service reported that Shinzato told police that he drove around for a few hours to find an assault target.

Born Kenneth Gadson, reportedly from New York City, he is married to a Japanese woman and used her family name, Shinzato. He worked at Kadena Air Base as an employee for a contractor that provides services to U.S. bases on Okinawa.