During its current session, the Diet is expected to enact a bill to improve the system for managing and storing official documents, now that the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan have reached a compromise. The bill is the legacy of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who wanted to bring politics closer to the people.
The LDP and the DPJ agreed to make it clear in the bill that official documents are the people's intellectual "property" and, as such, should be independently accessible. Bureaucrats should fully understand this principle and act accordingly.
The original bill submitted by the government failed to mention the people's right to know and empowered the heads of administrative organizations to dispose of official documents.