Declassified documents reveal that Japanese ultranationalists with ties to U.S. military intelligence plotted to overthrow the Japanese government and assassinate the prime minister in 1952.
The scheme -- which was abandoned -- was concocted by militarists and suspected war criminals who had worked for U.S. Occupation authorities after World War II, according to CIA records reviewed by AP. The plotters wanted a rightwing government that would rearm Japan.
The CIA files, declassified in 2005 and publicized by the U.S. National Archives in January, detail a plot to oust the pro-U.S. prime minister, Shigeru Yoshida, and install a more hawkish government led by Ichiro Hatoyama.