Mr. Bunroku Yoshino, 87, director general of the Foreign Ministry's American Bureau from January 1971 to May 1972, was in charge of negotiations with the United States on the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control. In recent media interviews, Mr. Yoshino admitted that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million (about 1.2 billion yen in the exchange rate at the time) in costs for the reversion.
In the U.S., official documents pointing to the existence of the secret deal had come to light in 2000 and 2002. The Japanese government, however, refuses to admit the existence of the secret pact even after Mr. Yoshino admitted it. Given his background, there is no reason to doubt the authenticity and trustworthiness of his statement.
The government's obstinate attitude is hard to understand. Now that almost 35 years have passed since the signing of the reversion agreement and 34 years since the return of Okinawa (May 1972), there should be no obstacle to the government admitting to the existence of the pact.