Enhancing Archives Security

In Japanese bureaucracy, official document has been arbitrarily disposed. Huge amount of governmental documents that were inconvenient for the bureaucrats was burnt down on the eve of unconditional surrender at the end of World War II. The government of Japan is reviewing the rule of keeping archives to contribute to future assessment on executive decisions. However, it is unlikely for crucially important documents to be saved, because the decision of keeping official records will still be at the bureaucrats’ disposal.

Archives Management Act requires the executive branch to keep official documents “for taking responsibility of the state for explaining their activities to present or future people, based on the principle of civil sovereignty.” Every Ministry has to keep official documents for one to thirty years, depending on their importance, and record them on the filing list. But, the bureaucrats can scrap any documents filed as “keeping for less than a year”

Committee for Archives Management, a consultative organization of the government, submitted a draft of revised guideline on Wednesday, which laid stricter standard in dealing with official document. In the discussion on scandal over Kake and Moritomo Gakuen, the bureaucrats refused commenting on the facts in selecting those educational corporations close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attributing to the lack of official document that recorded the process of the selection. “I don’t know it, because the documents less than a year old was scrapped,” was usual escape of them.

New guideline basically requires the bureaucracy to keep official documents for one year or more. Those needed to be preserved include “document necessary for tracing decision process or verification” and “information related to important or unusual issues.” The document not to be kept for a year is limited in seven categories, including “useless document in terms of inaccuracy of information.”

So, the biggest question is who will decide which information is inaccurate or what is important or unusual issue. That is bureaucrat. There will be no change in the system in which even a low-ranked bureaucrat can destroy any important document inconvenient to the government or administration at his/her disposal. Although new guideline also demands reconfirmation of the counterpart of dialogue about the details of the document, that reconfirmation may cause fabrication of discussed facts. If Japanese bureaucracy recognized governmental information as resource of the people. it is necessary for the government to establish third party organization to maintain official documents.