Tokyo: Japanese police on Monday arrested a US Marine suspected of raping a teenage Japanese girl in Okinawa.

A spokesman for the Okinawa Prefecture police said the 38-year-old Marine was suspected of raping the 14-year-old schoolgirl on Sunday.

Kyodo news agency, quoting police, said the marine had denied raping the girl, saying he only kissed her.

Police were investigating the incident, which Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima said "can not be forgiven".

Japan is home to some 50,000 US troops, mostly based in Okinawa.