2010/04/13
The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered the government to disclose all the required documents on a secret Japan-U.S. pact on the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty. The case was brought to court by 25 people, including researchers of modern Okinawa history and a former Mainichi Shimbun journalist.
The government argued it could not release the documents because it did not have them. But the court was severely critical, saying the government "has not conducted a thorough investigation for the documents." The court also said the government was "insincere because it neglected the public's right to know."
There have been a number of cases in which the central and local governments have refused disclosure, arguing that the documents "don't exist."
But Friday's ruling pointed out that under certain conditions, governments are liable to offer "proof of absence" of the documents. The ruling is significant because it will effectively encourage information disclosure.
After the change of government last year, the new administration conducted a wide search but could not find the documents in question. That fact was not reflected in the ruling because of the trial's schedule.
The ruling appraised the documents as "having first-class historic value and can be utilized by Japan in diplomatic negotiations regarding territorial disputes."
Once again, we would like to state that by hiding the truth under the pretext of diplomatic secrets, successive governments had committed nothing less than treachery against the people and history.
Documents that should exist are no longer around. Some aren't even properly archived. Japan's governments have had a history of problems in terms of document management, including lost pension records and leaving a list of patients possibly infected with hepatitis through contaminated blood products sitting on the shelf.
Suspicions have emerged that documents were destroyed to protect the interests of the ministries. Who can trust such a government?
Learning lessons from these mistakes, the government passed the law on management of official documents through the Diet last June. The law created common rules for ministries and agencies handling public documents at all stages, including creation, preservation, transfer and utilization.
To improve document management, the government introduced a system for periodic inspections of how the rules were being observed. The law also decrees that all documents of historical importance would be transferred to the National Archives of Japan.
Yet, the most important thing is how government officials follow those rules. The amount of documents is enormous, and it is impossible to check all of them. It is necessary for every public service person to recognize that the documents are part of "the common national intellectual resource that supports the very core of a healthy democracy."
Politicians also need to change their mind-set. The Democratic Party of Japan used to stress the importance of document management.
However, once in power, the DPJ has been reluctant, or even indifferent, to the creation and release of records that allow us to review the government's decision-making process, including the minutes of meetings between ministers and other senior parliamentary officials.
After being pressed in the Diet, Yukio Edano, minister in charge of government revitalization, finally started to address the issue. But the DPJ's attitude belittles its mantra of "political initiative."
Information disclosure and document management are two wheels of a cart that carries democracy. In addition to the central government, local governments seeking "more power to the regions" must fulfill their responsibilities for document management.
Their responsibility concerns not only the current generation of taxpayers and voters. They should recognize and act upon the fact that archiving records fulfills their accountability to the nation's posterity.
--The Asahi Shimbun, April 10
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