Newly declassified U.S. documents have revealed that Washington and Tokyo went to great lengths in 1996 to keep the existence of a CIA station in Japan secret, fearing that disclosure would damage diplomatic relations. The revelation, included in an 80,000-page collection of files related to the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, sheds light on the deep intelligence ties between the two nations and the efforts to keep them hidden from public scrutiny.
The document, dated March 1996 and titled “Official Acknowledgement of Tokyo Station,” records internal U.S. government discussions about whether to release information confirming the presence of the CIA in Japan. At the time, the U.S. was declassifying documents related to Kennedy’s assassination, but officials debated whether acknowledging the CIA’s operations in Tokyo would have negative consequences.
According to the document, then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale and other American officials strongly opposed making any reference to the CIA’s activities in Japan. The document warns that revealing such details could have “adverse consequences for U.S.-Japan relations” at a time when both nations were dealing with sensitive security and economic issues. It further highlights that the Japanese government does not publicly admit to collecting intelligence and does not acknowledge having liaison relationships with U.S. intelligence agencies. Any official confirmation of a CIA presence, it states, would have been exploited by left-wing political groups to attack Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its support for the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty.
A state visit by the U.S. president was also approaching, and negotiations over American military bases in Okinawa were expected to continue into 1997. Officials feared that raising questions about U.S. intelligence activities in Japan at such a time could complicate diplomatic efforts. The document also references a 1994 New York Times report that exposed CIA funding for Japan’s LDP during the 1950s and 1960s, which caused major controversy. U.S. officials feared that publicly confirming CIA operations in Japan would reignite this political scandal.
The document further reveals that then-Japanese Foreign Minister and LDP president Yohei Kono personally urged Ambassador Mondale to prevent the U.S. government from releasing any documents on the matter. Kono reportedly told Mondale that while the LDP could manage rumors and leaks, an official acknowledgment of CIA activities would be far more damaging, posing risks to both the party’s political leadership and U.S.-Japan security relations. He emphasized the need for Washington to “hold the line against disclosure.”
While this document was originally released in 2017, key terms such as “Japan,” “Tokyo,” and “LDP” had been redacted. The latest declassification fully reveals these words for the first time, providing explicit confirmation of efforts to conceal CIA operations in Japan.
The CIA is believed to have been highly active in Japan, particularly during the Cold War, when the U.S. sought to counter Soviet influence in Asia. Documents from the 1960s indicate that the agency had around 3,700 personnel stationed overseas, with nearly half of the political section staff at U.S. embassies being intelligence operatives. Alongside Tokyo, the CIA reportedly maintained stations in several European and Asian capitals, including Brussels, Helsinki, Oslo, and New Delhi.
Japanese intelligence specialist Ken Kotani, a professor at Nihon University, stated that the CIA’s presence in Japan has long been an open secret among researchers. However, he emphasized that the newly disclosed document is significant because it shows that, even in the 1990s, both the U.S. and Japan were actively trying to hide the agency’s operations. He also pointed out that around the time the document was produced, there were reports that the CIA had tapped into Japanese communications during U.S.-Japan automobile trade negotiations in 1995, further straining relations between the two countries.
Kotani noted that intelligence collection among allies is common but must be carefully managed to avoid diplomatic fallout. If covert activities come to light, they can damage trust and political stability. The U.S. was particularly cautious in this case, fearing that the revelation of CIA activities in Japan could provoke backlash against the LDP and undermine the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
The files declassified alongside this document were part of an order by former U.S. President Donald Trump to release materials related to Kennedy’s assassination. While most of the documents date back to the 1960s, some, like this one, pertain to more recent official deliberations over declassification.
Kono, now 88 years old and retired from politics since 2009, was contacted for comment but declined an interview, with his office stating that his memory of events from three decades ago was uncertain. However, his past public statements contrast with the newly revealed records. In 1995, Kono told Japan’s Upper House Budget Committee, “We have no knowledge of whether or not the CIA exists in Japan, and whether or not the CIA is operating in an organized manner.” The declassified documents now confirm that he was, at the same time, privately lobbying the U.S. to keep such knowledge hidden from the public.
