President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan at a joint news conference on Friday in the Kantei, which houses Mr. Hatoyama's office in Tokyo (November 13, 2009). Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesFrom Time Magazine:
(TOKYO) — To the government's critics, it was a long and shocking act of official stonewalling: Agreements long hidden in Foreign Ministry files allowed nuclear-armed U.S. warships to enter Japanese ports, violating a hallowed principle of postwar Japan. Yet their very existence was officially denied.
Now, in a clear break from the past, a new prime minister has gone where none of his predecessors dared go: He has ordered a panel of ministry officials and academics to investigate the secret agreements.
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My Comment: There is nothing to gain by disclosing secrets that many have known and talked about publicly for a very long time. But Japanese politics being Japanese politics .... from the viewpoint of the Japanese Government it is in their interest to adopt a more anti-US line .... especially with the dispute over US forces on Okinawa still festering.