Copies of official documents that confirm a secret pact between Tokyo and Washington concerning the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese rule have been placed on the Web site of Diet member Kinya Narazaki of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Under the secret pact, Japan assumed the $4 million cost the U.S. was supposed to pay to restore Okinawa land to its original state, the lawmaker said.
The Japanese government has flatly denied the existence of the pact over the last 30 years, ever since the reversion of Okinawa.
Narazaki said: "I decided to put copies of the documents on my Web site because I feel annoyed that the government continues to ignore the secret pact. . . . The government should no longer deny it."
Narazaki disclosed three documents in connection with the secret pact, including a written overview of talks dated May 28, 1971, between then Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Armin Meyer.
The documents state the Japanese government's willingness to shoulder $4 million for restoring Okinawa land as well as the U.S. government's intention to conceal the agreement with the Japanese government.
The existence of the documents was first revealed in March 1972 in the Diet when Takahiro Yokomichi, currently a senior DPJ lawmaker, uncovered the secret agreement.
The documents shown on the Web site are located under a section related to memorandums of Narazaki's father, Yanosuke, a former Lower House member.
Masaaki Gabe, a professor at Okinawa's University of the Ryukyus, said: "It is interesting that everyone is now able to see the controversial documents the government consistently denies. People who visit the Web site can judge for themselves whether the government is lying."