The government plans to rebut plaintiffs in a lawsuit by once again claiming there is no secret Japan-U.S. agreement over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa and add that Washington probably created documents showing the pact's purported existence, sources said Thursday.
Bunroku Yoshino, who as the Foreign Ministry's American Bureau chief negotiated the deal with the United States and has since acknowledged the pact's existence in interviews, plans to appear before the court as a witness for the plaintiffs, the sources added.
If, during the second session Tuesday, the Tokyo District Court decides to summon him as a witness, there is a possibility the government's argument will be substantially weakened by Yoshino's testimony.