An upcoming book about the top-secret U.S. National Security Agency documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden contains previously undisclosed information about U.S. spying on Japan, according to a copy of the book obtained by Kyodo News.
A Japanese edition of the book titled "No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State" and written by Glenn Greenwald, a former columnist with The Guardian newspaper, will hit bookstores in Japan on Wednesday after its worldwide release Tuesday.
The book says the NSA surveilled entities including the permanent mission of Japan to the United Nations in 2010 before the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on sanctions against Iran.
The U.S. used various methods, including hacking, to obtain information from Japan's U.N. mission, the book says. Japan was one of the nonpermanent members of the UNSC at the time.
It also says the NSA placed bugs and hacked more than 50,000 computers in Japan and other countries, allowing it to see the words typed and the messages on the screens.
Greenwald wrote that Snowden was sent to Japan as an employee of a major U.S. computer maker from 2009 to 2011 and underwent intensive training on cyberspying, which allowed him to hack into foreign military and civilian computer systems.
The Foreign Ministry declined to comment in detail on the book due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The Guardian reported in June last year that U.S. intelligence services were spying on embassies and diplomatic missions in the United States, including those of Japan.
