The Abe administration's decision to keep minutes of Cabinet meetings and release summaries, beginning in April, sounds like a positive step, but it is not likely to substantially increase transparency in the government's decision-making process. What is needed is a legal framework that mandates full documentation of how government policies are formulated and opens records to future public scrutiny.

Cabinet meetings — regularly held twice a week — are the administration's final decision-making venues. But ever since the first such meeting was held in 1885, no official minutes have been kept of what was discussed and decided by the prime minister and his Cabinet members . There are no written rules requiring that minutes of these meetings be kept. Only a summary of Cabinet meeting proceedings have customarily been given to the press by the chief Cabinet secretary and other ministers.

Beginning April 1, the administration will reportedly start keeping minutes of Cabinet meetings and subsequent discussions by ministers, then release summaries on the website of the prime minister's office within about three weeks of each meeting. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hailed the move as a "historic step" that will increase transparency of Cabinet meeting business and provide accountability for the people. Officials say, however, the summaries will only list the issues discussed and the names of speakers, giving a gist of their statements plus the date and place where the meetings were held. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says "not all" information will be disclosed, including that which could compromise national security. It is not clear whether information that could prove inconvenient for the administration — such as divided opinions among Cabinet members — will be included in the summaries.