Japan court orders papers on Okinawa reversion made public

A court in Tokyo Friday ordered the government to disclose diplomatic papers related to the reversion of Okinawa from the United States to Japan in 1972.

The ruling, taken by Tokyo District Court, was made after 25 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit demanding to see the papers in March last year. At that time, the government denied their existence.

Among the plaintiffs was Takichi Nishiyama, a reporter who was working for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper in the 1970s and was convicted for his reporting on the Okinawa reversion. A later case to clear his name was thrown out of court.

The plaintiffs had argued that there were secret deals related to the reversion of Okinawa signed between the United States and Japan. That claim was validated earlier this year after a Foreign Ministry investigation revealed that there were pacts signed with the United States.

In addition, the court ruled that each plaintiff should receive 100,000 yen (1,070 dollars) from the state because their right to information had been suppressed.

Japan has long been aware of the existence of the pacts because of declassified documents released by the United States, but governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which was kicked from power in a landslide last summer, have consistently denied any deals were made.

When the Democratic party of Japan (DPJ) won an election last summer, it vowed to reveal the existence of any secret pacts. The Foreign Ministry revealed that through an investigation it had discovered four deals made between Washington and Tokyo in the 1960s and 70s, including one that allows U.S. nuclear weapons into the Japanese territory without prior consultation.

Source: Xinhua