The Secret Japan-US Security Pacts: Background and Disclosure

For many years the Japan-US Security Treaty has been the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy and security policy. Suspicions have long been voiced, however, that behind the security treaty there lurked unpublicized secret pacts. In particular, despite the denials of the Japanese government, there were suspicions that nuclear-armed warships had in fact called at Japanese ports. With the change in government in September 2009, the issue came to be the subject of an investigation by the new Democratic Party of Japan administration. The author of this article served as chairman of the commission of inquiry.