Japan
What's New
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16 November 2011
By Lawrence Repeta
Repeta is a professor of law, Meiji University, Japan, and a member of the board of directors of Information Clearinghouse Japan (the leading Japanese NGO advocating and monitoring Japan’s information access laws)
The Japan Times recently carried an editorial…
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22 September 2011
By Lawrence Repeta
Repeta is a professor at Meiji University, Tokyo, and a FreedomInfo.org contributing editor
When the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power in a historic landslide election in August, 2009, there were high expectations that party leaders…
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freedom of information: overview
Tens of thousands of information requests have been filed each year since Japan’s national information disclosure law took effect in 2001. Although transparency advocates point to several important shortcomings in the law, there is no doubt that it is a major milestone in the nation’s development as a democratic society. Requests filed by journalists, lawyers, activists and ordinary citizens have uncovered a wide range of information concerning public health, government expenditures, international relations and other issues of broad public interest.
Japan’s national information disclosure law provides anyone the right to demand information in the possession of national government agencies and government-owned entities. The government is ordinarily required to respond within thirty days, a standard that is met in the overwhelming majority of cases, and to disclose all relevant records except for items that come within one or more of six categories of exempt information. In addition, a national personal information protection law came into effect in 2005 which enables individuals to demand information concerning themselves.
LEARN MORE: in-depth overview | news archive | ngos | chronology | further reading | excerpt from Global Survey
NGOs and civil society
Information Clearinghouse Japan: Information Clearinghouse Japan (ICJ) was established as a successor organization to the “Citizens Movement for an Information Disclosure Law.” The Citizens Movement, formed in 1980, was disbanded in 1999 following passage of the national information disclosure law. ICJ was registered as a non-profit entity the same year. The ICJ mission is to promote faithful application of local and national information disclosure systems, lobby for improvements in practice and legal reforms, support information requesters and otherwise work to promote open government and protect the people’s right to know.
National Citizen Ombudsmen Network: The National Citizen Ombudsmen Network is composed of 85 member organizations (as of February 2010) with collective presence in all 46 prefectures throughout Japan. The Network was formed in 1994 with the mission of utilizing information disclosure laws and other tools to monitor misuse of funds and other improper activities in government. The Network publishes annual transparency rankings for local governments and other information or interest to transparency advocates.
Citizens’ Center for Information Disclosure: The mission of the Citizens Center is to provide assistance to in requesters nationwide who seek information from national government agencies located in Tokyo. The Center was registered as a non-profit organization in 2001.
Transparency International Japan: The Japan chapter of Transparency International conducts workshops, symposia and other activities in Japan with the objective of promoting anti-corruption efforts and also coordinates with the global TI network.
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24 February 2011
By Lawrence Repeta
Professor, Meiji University; Board Member, Information Clearinghouse Japan
When the Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide victory in 2009 parliamentary elections, the prospects for a progressive open government law in Japan were bright.
Now the DPJ…
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16 September 2010
The recent conviction of two anti-whaling activists in Japan was facilitated by the government’s denial of information about whale meat sales by a government-subsidized company, according to the environmental group Greenpeace.
The “Tokyo Two” were convicted Sept. 6 of theft…
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10 April 2009
Asked by e-mail about the fund, Alejandra Videos, a Senior Communications Officer with the World Bank replied, We dont have anything new to report on the Facility. Well let you know if anything comes up. Another Bank official explained that…
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2 February 2009
Controversy Highlights Issues of Historical Memory in Japan
By Lawrence Repeta
[Editor's note: This article has been reprinted with permission of the author and first appeared in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.]
Prime Minister Aso Taro’s admission that his family…
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30 January 2008
By Lawrence Repeta, Omiya Law School
Tokyo, Japan — More than six decades after the end of World War II, responsibility for wartime suffering remains a highly sensitive political issue in Asia, nowhere more so than in the Japan-Korea relationship.…
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28 September 2005
Since 2002, freedom of information advocates around the world have been working together to promote the right of access to information for all people and recognize the benefits of transparent and accountable governments. We use this day as a way…
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23 June 2005
Noboru Toike, a professor and expert on Imperial tombs, used Japan’s public information disclosure law to obtain academic studies conducted by the Imperial Household Agency regarding the discovery of at least 10 ancient tombs that the government has claimed hold…
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21 December 2004
The Asian Development Bank’s second draft of a new communications policy is meeting with some praise, and also with continuing criticism.
Common themes included: demands for more disclosure about private sector operations, recommendations for releasing the key documents as they…
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10 December 2004
Information Clearinghouse Japan, a non-profit organization, conducted an investigation based on information requests filed under the Japanese public information disclosure law regarding the destruction of official records before that law came into effect in March 2001. The records showed that…
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30 September 2004
The International Finance Corporation has increased the number of consultations it will hold on proposed disclosure and safeguard policy revisions after the outreach process came under criticism by activists as inadequate and rushed.
The changes were announced just before the…
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7 September 2004
The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, has issued a "concept paper" on disclosure policy, outlining "principles," "objectives," and "frameworks," but providing few specifics and making few changes in current policies.
For relevant documents click here.…
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16 January 2004
The Asahi Shimbun (Japan) reports on a Nagano man, who applied for the release of travel data on three assembly members who had gone on business trips using public funds, and found that government officials leaked his personal data to…
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1 December 2003
The Inter-American Development Bank on November 26 agreed to publish the minutes of its executive board meetings, the first development bank to do so.
The disclosure of minutes was the main advance made as the IDB board revised its entire…
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12 November 2003
The Asahi Shimbun (Japan) reports that the Supreme Court has overturned a high court decision ordering the disclosure of the names and titles of private citizens wined and dined by the Osaka municipal government in the late 1980s and early…
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11 October 2003
by Thomas Blanton
The International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2003, p. 6
Last month (September 23, 2003), Armenia became the 51st country in the world to guarantee its citizens the right to know what their government is up to. Armenia’s…
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8 September 2003
Lawrence Repeta of the Information Clearinghouse Japan board of directors reports on the 20-year experience with freedom of information in Kanagawa prefecture — the most influential early Japanese access law, passed in 1982, two decades before the national FOI law.…
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9 May 2003
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the Japan Public Highway Corporation spent a total of 1.47 million yen to wine and dine 11 lawmakers on 17 different occasions between fiscal 2001 and 2002.
Documents, obtained under the Japanese Information Disclosure law,…
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22 April 2003
The Asahi Shimbun (Japan) reports that government officials in Japan, hesitant to release files to public scrutiny, have been hoarding documents by extending their supposed “preservation periods,’ since an information disclosure law made archive records more open to the public…
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11 April 2003
The World Bank is moving toward a new policy that will at least double the number of contract bidding opportunities publicized internationally, according to bank officials and business sector observers.
The change will substantially increase the visibility of bank-financed contracts…
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17 January 2003
Yvonne T. Chua has been the training director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) since 1995. As journalism trainer, she has trained scores of journalists in the Philippines and abroad, including Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal. In 1999, she…
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1 October 2002
By Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South, October 2002
Multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Band (ADB) and the World Bank pride themselves on their information disclosure policies. Especially since the Asian economic crisis, they have held their…
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27 July 2002
By Information Clearinghouse Japan
A new national disclosure law took effect in Japan in April 2001. This essay by Information Clearinghouse Japan shows how citizen’s groups, opposition parties and freedom of information advocates had lobbied for such an act for 20…
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15 July 2002
By Thomas Blanton
Published in Foreign Policy, July/August 2002
During the last decade, 26 countries have enacted new legislation giving their citizens access to government information. Why? Because the concept of freedom of information is evolving from a moral indictment…
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5 July 2002
By Lawrence Repeta and David M. Schultz
Click here to view the Information Disclosure Matrix: A Comparison of Information Disclosure in Japan and the United States
INTRODUCTION
After more than 20 years of lobbying by Japanese citizen’s groups, opposition political…
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29 May 2002
The Japan Times reports that a Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) officer compiled personal data on individuals requesting disclosure of Defense Agency information and passed it along to other agency officials.
According to the Defense Agency, the MSDF officer compiled personal…
