A government report released Friday lists 181 cases of improper management of official documents, including some getting lost or accidentally being discarded.
Most mishandling took place at the National Tax Agency, accounting for 131 cases, or 72.4 percent of the total, followed by 18 cases at the Justice Ministry and eight cases each at the Finance Ministry and the Board of Audit.
The total breaks down to 147 instances of loss by misplacement, 33 of disposal in error, and one case of destruction by fire.
The report was provided to an advisory panel of experts at the Cabinet Office that has been studying management of government documents. The panel is headed by Takashi Mikuriya, a political historian and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
Among the documents lost or disposed of by mistake were items containing personal information about taxpayers.