2004 freedominfo.org Global Survey Results - Japan
Text from the freedominfo.org Global Survey: Freedom of Information and Access to Government Records Around the World, by David Banisar (updated 12 May 2004)

After a 20-year effort, the Law Concerning Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs (1) was approved by the Diet in May 1999 and went into effect in April 2001. The law allows any individual or company, Japanese or foreign, to request administrative documents held by administrative agencies in electronic or printed form. A separate law enacted in November 2001 extended the coverage of the access law to public service corporations. Departments must respond in 30 days.

There are six broad categories of exemptions. Documents can be withheld if they contain information about a specific individual unless the information is made public by law or custom or is necessary to protect a life or a public official in his public duties; corporate information that risks harming its interests was given voluntarily in confidence; information that puts national security or international relations or negotiations at risk; information that would hinder law enforcement; internal deliberations that would harm the free and frank exchange of opinions or hinder internal decision making; business of a public organ relating to inspections; and supervision, contracts, research, personnel management, or business enterprise.

Exempted information can be disclosed by the head of the agency "when it is deemed that there is a particular public-interest need." The head of the agency can also refuse to admit the existence of the information if answering the request will reveal the information.

Appeals are referred by the agency to the Information Disclosure Review Board, a committee in the Office of the Prime Minster. The Board reviewed 373 cases in 2002 and recommended full or partial disclosure in 58 percent of the cases. (2) In September 2002, the board recommended the disclosure of the minutes of the meetings between Emperor Hirohito and US General Douglas MacArthur. Denials can be also be appealed to one of eight different district courts.

Interest in the right of access has been high. Four thousand requests were filed in the first week of operation. There were 48,000 requests made in the first year of the law, with over 90 percent of information requests being approved. (3) However, not all agencies have been cooperative. In June 2002, 29 employees of the Defense Ministry were punished after they were found to be maintaining lists and collecting personal information on those making information requests and providing that information to superior officers. They also tried to cover up their activities. (4) The Ministry of Public Management, Justice Ministry, National Police Agency, the Agency for Nuclear and Industrial Safety and the Sendai Municipal Assembly were also discovered to be keeping files on requestors. The government admitted in January 2003 that ten ministries had unlawfully delayed the release of 127 files beyond the legal deadlines. (5) The National Archives of Japan reports that they are receiving fewer files from ministries who fear their disclosure. (6)

Nearly 3,000 local jurisdictions also have adopted disclosure laws. The first was Kanayama town in Yamagata prefecture in 1982. Kanagawa Prefecture also adopted a law in 1982. (7)

Notes

1. Law Concerning Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs. http://www.soumu.go.jp/gyoukan/kanri/translation3.htm. For a detailed analysis and comparison with US law, see Lawrence Repeta and David M. Schultz, Japanese Government Information: New Rules for Access - The 2001 Information Disclosure Law, and a Comparison with the U.S. FOIA, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/foia/japanfoia.html

2. Case Disclosed: A Panel Enforcing the Information Disclosure Law, Asahi News Service, April 30, 2003.

3. "Foreign Ministry least free with info,"Asahi Shimbun, April 12, 2002. Table of requests available at: http://www.freedominfo.org/case/japan/japan.table.xls

4. "29 Defense Agency officials punished over lists", Japan Times, June 21, 2002.

5. Gov't illegally delays 127 document disclosures, Mainichi Daily News, January 22, 2003.

6. More Open Archives Spook Ministries, Asahi News Service, April 23, 2003.

7. Lawrence Repeta, The Birth of the Freedom of Information Act in Japan: Kanagawa 1982. http://www.freedominfo.org/reports/japan.htm