On Nov. 11, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the National Archives of Japan in Tokyo. It was the first time that an incumbent prime minister visited this institute. But the visit was reported only on its website.
Some would think the visit is a trivial pastime because the archives are apolitical in nature and keep old materials that they think are of only narrow interest to academic historians. But it is rather suggestive in relation to the state secrets law railroaded through the Diet on Dec. 6.
Documents stored at archives can be very political because there are cases in which disclosed documents show the reality of highly politically delicate decisions. The problem with the state secrets law is that it enables the government to hide public documents designated as secrets semi-permanently and even to discard them, completely contrary to the international standard.