Monday, Nov. 30, 2009

A former senior Foreign Ministry official will testify Tuesday before the Tokyo District Court about state documents that plaintiffs argue indicate the existence of a secret Japan-U.S. pact about cost burdens for the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan.

To take the stand: Bunroku Yoshino, 91, a retired senior Foreign Ministry official, is interviewed recently. KYODO PHOTO

Although successive administrations of the now-ousted Liberal Democratic Party consistently denied the secret pact existed, 91-year-old Bunroku Yoshino, the ministry's former American Bureau chief who was one of Japan's negotiators for the reversion, has claimed otherwise.

The documents include one that is supposed to indicate that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs on behalf of the United States to restore Okinawa farmland used by the U.S. military.

Presiding Judge Norihiko Sugihara summoned Yoshino to appear in court in October. The summons had to be approved by the Foreign Ministry based on a provision in the code of civil procedure pertaining to questions to a witness involving secrets handled as part of diplomatic work.

Yoshino's testimony is expected to give impetus to moves to disclose other secret pacts, particularly one in which Japan allegedly turned a blind eye to stopovers by nuclear-armed U.S. vessels and aircraft — an agreement that goes against the nation's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, developing or permitting the entry of nuclear weapons.

Those pacts are now under investigation by a Foreign Ministry team after the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in the August general election by ousting the long-ruling LDP.

One of the plaintiffs, former Mainichi Shimbun reporter Takichi Nishiyama, 78, is seeking to clear his name. He was convicted in the 1970s of arranging for a female Foreign Ministry bureaucrat to hand over classified documents about the negotiation process behind the reversion of Okinawa.

In an earlier trial involving Nishiyama, Yoshino testified for the prosecution, denying the existence of the secret documents. He made similar denials in the Diet.

But in court Tuesday, Yoshino will testify on behalf of the plaintiffs, standing by Nishiyama nearly four decades after testifying against his claims.

Yoshino apparently changed his position after the United States between 2000 and 2002 declassified official documents that included secret pacts with Japan regarding the Okinawa reversion.

In April 2005, Nishiyama filed a damages suit with the Tokyo District Court, claiming his career as a reporter was ruined by the conviction. The suit was rejected by the Supreme Court in September 2008 without referring to whether the pact existed.

Yoshino meanwhile began featuring in media reports in 2006 — while Nishiyama was still pursuing damages. Yoshino admitted the secret pact existed and said the initials "B.Y." on related documents were his.

The latest litigation was brought by 25 plaintiffs, including Nishiyama, in March. They are demanding that the government disclose documents pertaining to the alleged secret pacts based on the people's right to know.

"The significance of the latest trial is that it demonstrates we will continue to pursue this issue," Nishiyama said recently.

"Mr. Yoshino will appear as a sworn witness in court. It's different from appearing in the media. (In court) he could face a perjury charge," Nishiyama said, adding the retired bureaucrat's testimony carries "very important meaning as it will be tantamount to an assertion that the government has lied about the secret pact."

Yoshino said he now wants to reveal the truth because the United States has disclosed the official documents for the secret pacts, and there have been several publications on the issue released in Japan.

"There is no doubt that I signed those official documents and they are authentic documents. All the records are there, so I believe nothing should be hidden any longer," he added.

Yoshino said had he admitted the existence of the secret pact before Okinawa was finally returned to Japanese sovereignty from the United States on May 15, 1972, the reversion "would have undoubtedly been broken off."

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