TOKYO -- Japan urged the US military Tuesday to tighten discipline after an American Marine was arrested on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa.

Staff Sergeant Tyrone Luther Hadnott, a 38-year-old Marine from Camp Courtney in Okinawa, was accused of attacking the girl in a parked car Sunday night. He was transferred to prosecutors from police custody Tuesday, Kyodo News agency said.

The alleged assault has stirred anger on Okinawa, where the US has several military bases and three American servicemen raped a 12-year-old girl in 1995. That rape triggered massive protests against the military presence on the island.

"There is the sense that we've had enough. We called on the US to strengthen discipline and prevent crimes from happening again," said Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said, adding the attack could "complicate" disputes over American bases.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also condemned the attack, calling in the Diet, Japan's parliament, for action to prevent more crimes.

"This is unforgivable," Fukuda said. "The government will firmly negotiate with the U.S. We have to first find out what happened. We will do all we can to prevent a recurrence."

The Okinawa city mayor and the mayor of Chatan town where the crime took place lodged a protest with the Marines in Okinawa Tuesday and urged American military officials to strengthen discipline and introduce concrete measures to prevent a recurrence, Okinawa city official Takashi Teruya said.

U.S. military and civilian officials have expressed regret over the assault.

The U.S. takes all alleged sexual assault cases seriously and Washington is working closely with Japanese authorities, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Monday.

Japanese police say the girl met Hadnott on Sunday and accepted a ride on his motorbike after he offered to take her home. The marine took her to his house instead. When the teenager started crying he said he would drive her home, and it is at this point that the girl claims he raped her in a car, a police official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Hadnott told investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but that he did not rape her, the official said.

Under a mutual security pact, the United States has about 50,000 troops deployed around Japan. Most of them are based on Okinawa, where tensions there over troop-related crime and disputes over land use are common.

Although the marine's arrest has been top news in Japan, there was no sign of unrest or protests in Okinawa. The three Americans convicted of rape in 1995 each served prison terms of six and a half to seven years.

Hadnott has not been charged yet and his hometown has not been released.