The U.S. government in 1983 strongly urged Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to raise Japan’s share of spending on security, according to diplomatic records declassified by Tokyo on Thursday.
The files also showed that Nakasone immediately responded to a U.S. request to contribute funds to a multilateral force operating in the Middle East.
The records reveal the beginnings of Japan's move to shoulder some of the security burden carried by the United States, which at the time was troubled by a widening budget shortfall.