The Yomiuri Shimbun
"It's a complete victory [in my legal battle]."
Former Mainichi Shimbun reporter Takichi Nishiyama, 78, was unabashed in expressing his joy in hailing the latest court ruling in a lawsuit filed by a group of 25 people, including himself, to demand the disclosure of written records on a Japan-U.S. secret pact tied to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan.
"A kind of information revolution has taken place," Nishiyama said shortly after the Tokyo District Court issued the ruling in favor of the plaintiffs on Friday.
The latest ruling means the court clearly acknowledged the existence of the secret accord. It ordered the government to disclose diplomatic documents related to the concealed pact.
Thirty-nine years ago, Nishiyama got a scoop on the secret pact as a Mainichi journalist.
The secret pact allegedly was a deal between Japan and the United States, in which the Japanese government promised to shoulder the costs of restoring land in Okinawa to its original condition in connection with the reversion, expenses the U.S. government should have paid.
Though the accord's existence was confirmed by a U.S. government document, the Japanese government has maintained that such a secret pact did not exist.
A Foreign Ministry panel of experts has stated that, broadly defined, the pact indeed was a secret accord.
In 1971, Nishiyama obtained a document indicating the existence of the secret pact and reported the fact in his newspaper.
But he was convicted for violating the National Civil Service Law over allegations he had solicited a female Foreign Ministry employee to leak a state secret.
In 1978, the Supreme Court finalized a guilty sentence against Nishiyama. In 1974, Nishiyama resigned from his Mainichi newspaper reporter job, which he said he had felt was an ideal position.
Nishiyama had described the nature of the lawsuit as one "between the public as the sovereign and the government. It's not my personal suit."
He said he initially felt it would be extremely difficult to break through the resistance of the government, which has continued to deny the existence of the secret pact.
At a press conference in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Friday after the court ruling, Nishiyama expressed appreciation, saying: "Despite the existence of the Access to Government Information Act, the government has hidden the information contrary to the spirit of the law. The court condemned that attitude."
With a smile on his face, Nishiyama added: "What was [hitherto] unimaginable has occurred before my eyes. I'm wondering if I'm dreaming."
However, the Foreign Ministry criticized the ruling.
On instructions from Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, the ministry searched for documents related to the secret pact between September and November.
The search uncovered no documents identical to those found in the United States, which were said to indicate a promise that Japan would shoulder 4 million dollars to return land to its original condition on behalf of the U.S. government.
But the ruling said the ministry's internal investigation "can't be said to have been an adequate search."
Okada expressed his discontent at a press conference Friday saying, "It's obvious [such documents] don't exist in the ministry."
But it is suspected that some documents related to the secret pact have been disposed of. Therefore, it is possible the ministry will be grilled over its lax document archival procedures on such occasions as Diet sessions.
(Apr. 11, 2010)
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