The Tokyo High Court on Sept. 29 overturned an April 9, 2010, ruling by the Tokyo District Court that not only had determined that Japan and the United States had secret pacts over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa but also had ordered the state to disclose related diplomatic documents.
The high court turned down the plaintiffs' demand for disclosure of the documents, based on its determination that there was no evidence to show that such documents existed when the Foreign and Finance ministries decided in October 2008 not to disclose them. The ministries' decision had been in response to a disclosure request filed under the freedom of information law.
The district court had decided to award ¥100,000 in damages to each plaintiff on the grounds that the state neglected people's right to know through its insistence that the documents did not exist. The high court erased this decision. The lawsuit had been filed in March 2009 by 25 journalists and academics.