Political Risk:
Moderate
Score:
65/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
100/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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The Diet is “the sole law-making organ of State,” and therefore has the right to enact laws. Both houses of the Diet must act…
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Ultimately, the cabinet must have the confidence of the House of Representatives in conducting all affairs of state. [1] As Kishimoto writes, “the House…
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The Cabinet depends on a majority of the Diet voting in favour of its proposals for them to be adopted. It will attempt to…
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Q2
71/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The Security Committee of the House of Representatives and the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the House of Councillors handle defence affairs. These…
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The Diet Law states that “Members of Standing Committees shall be appointed by each House at the beginning of a session, and shall hold…
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The topics raised in the committees are found on their homepages. Bills and budget proposals are dealt with by the committees. The Cabinet issues…
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The Security Committee of the House of Representatives met 11 times from March 5 to June 26, 2019, a period covering 17 weeks, [1]…
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As noted in Q2B, each Standing Committee may have an official with professional knowledge (a “Senmon-in” or Professional Adviser), and researchers. Both the Security…
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The Diet committees with jurisdiction over defence seldom make recommendation to the Ministry of Defence (see Q2D). If “recommendation” is interpreted as “request”, however,…
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Q3
69/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The executive contributes to debate on defence policy by making policy documents accessible, such as the National Security Strategy (adopted in 2013), the National…
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While a few topics of general interest are debated during election campaigns, some topics are mostly discussed by decision makers and experts. Content analysis…
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Diet committees can arrange public consultations on defence policy or the security strategy. They can hold public hearings at the national and local level…
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Important government documents on Japan’s defence policy are publicly available and easily accessible. This is the case for the government documents listed in the…
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Q4
50/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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No formally stated Japanese policy of openness specific to CSOs was found. Japan does, however, have a Freedom of Information Act. Transparency International Japan,…
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The Constitution of Japan guarantees freedom of assembly, association, speech, press and all other forms of expression. [1] Furthermore, as one interviewee explained, “if…
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Defence and security institutions have worked with CSOs. One example is a call for applications from CSOs for a project where they would work…
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Q5
75/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Japan signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in December 2003, and in 2006 the National Diet of Japan gave approval of its ratification…
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The OECD recently (July 2019) stated that, “Japan continues to demonstrate a particularly low level of anti-bribery enforcement. Since 1999, it has only prosecuted…
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Q6
75/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Several media channels broadcast debates on defence issues. The public viewing fee funded broadcaster NHK’s weekly television program “NHK Sunday Debate” often raises such…
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The government contributes to debate on defence policy by making policy documents. [1] Furthermore, the Minister of Defence gives interviews which are posted on…
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Q7
0/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no anti-corruption policy that applies to the defence sector. A search of the webpages of…
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The Ministry of Defence of Japan does not have an explicit anti-corruption policy (see Q7A), neither does an explicit action plan seem to exist.…
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Q8
83/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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The primary responsibility for dealing with legal compliance within the Ministry of Defence and the SDF lies with the Inspector General’s Office of Legal…
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The IGO is an independent office in the MOD under the direct supervision of the Minister of Defence. The Inspector General is to submit…
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The IGO publishes an annual report on its regular inspections. In its report for the fiscal year 2018, it wrote that it was working…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. No public polls directly asking whether there is public trust in the ability of…
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Q10
33/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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Beginning in January 2006, some executive civil servants in the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MOD) were arrested and prosecuted by the Tokyo District Prosecutor’s…
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Information on the webpages of the Japan Ministry of Defence (see Q10A) indicate that a thorough assessment of the corruption risk was made following…
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The assessment of the 2006 collusion incident was justification for the establishment of an Inspector General’s Office in 2007. [1,2] The Ministry of Defence…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
67/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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The broad outlines of the acquisition planning cycle are clear. The “Medium Term Defence Program” is an acquisition plan for a five-year period. [1]…
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The public has access to documents from the whole procurement process. The NSS, [1] NDPG, [2] and Medium Term Defence Program [3] can all…
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A Medium Term Defence Program (MTDP) acquisition plan covering FY 2019 – FY 2023, as well as National Defence Program Guidelines (NDPG) for FY…
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Q12
100/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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Different versions of the Japanese budget are released at different stages of the budget compilation process, but almost every item of expenditure is listed…
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The budget proposal that the Finance Minister presents to the National Diet for legislative scrutiny will have the government’s support and will only be…
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Q13
75/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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The Security Committee of the House of Representatives and the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the House of Councillors are standing committees in…
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The Constitution grants the authority to make the budget proposal to the Executive. [1] The budget proposal that the government presents to the Diet…
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Q14
92/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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According to Article 91 of the Japanese Constitution, “At regular intervals and at least annually the Cabinet shall report to the Diet and the…
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The entire defence budget that has been approved by the National Diet is uploaded on MOD’s website. This includes a full breakdown of the…
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The public may apply for additional information under “The Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs.” The Ministry of Internal Affairs and…
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Q15
75/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The general account budget, of which the Defence Budget is a part, is to be funded primarily by taxes and public bonds. [1] The…
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The Board of Audit of Japan is independent of the Executive and is in charge of auditing government expenditure. [1] It publishes an annual…
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Aside from small amounts of income from sales of used military equipment and military property assets, no indications were found of non-central government sources…
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Q16
NEI/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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Ministry of Defence (MOD) instructions on internal audit are clear, but little information has been found on relevant homepages on the level of this…
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An Internet search for information on enabling oversight of the internal audit of defence spending found no information on such oversight in the mainstream…
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. The MOD Instructions on Audit Inspection, which give the rules for internal audit, also refer…
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. The MOD Instructions on Audit Inspection entitle the Minister or a Chief of Staff to…
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Q17
88/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The Board of Audit of Japan plays a major role in providing oversight of government expenditures. It conducts external audits of the defence sector,…
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The Board of Audit is the primary external auditor for military spending. It is independent of the Executive with regard to the appointment of…
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The Board of Audit regularly publishes reports from its audits. It publishes its reports within a reasonable timeframe. Its audit report for FY2017 was…
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The Board of Audit regularly publishes information on its website about improvement measures taken by government agencies based on the board’s recommendations. For example,…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
67/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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A comprehensive and extensive book on the Japanese legal system by Jones and Ravitch from 2020 does not describe any statutory or constitutional instruments…
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There is no evidence that Japanese defence institutions are involved in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. No reports of such exploitation…
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There is no indication that SDF personnel are involved in illegal businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. In a search of the…
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The homepages of the Ministry of Defence [1] and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy [2] as well as of the mainstream national…
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The homepages of the Ministry of Defence [1] and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy [2] as well as of the mainstream national…
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Organised Crime
Q19
100/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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No media reports nor any other evidence could be found of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector in Japan.…
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A few government institutions have a responsibility for responding to organised crime in Japan. Such crime falls primarily within the responsibilities of the police,…
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Q20
92/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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The military police (警務) exist in all service branches of the Self-Defence Force (SDF). They have the mandate to operate as police as described…
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The military police force is under the direct command of the Minister of Defence, and therefore has a degree of independence vis-à-vis the SDF.…
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In a search of the webpages of the mainstream newspapers Asahi and Yomiuri, several cases of corruption were found, but none involving the highest…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
13/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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Two pieces of legislation passed by the Japanese Diet in 2013 substantially reorganised the country’s intelligence services. An earlier law was revised to establish…
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The Japanese organisations that are closest to being parliamentary oversight committees for the intelligence services are the Information Oversight Committees of the two Houses…
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Q22
25/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The Japanese intelligence institutions are headed by civil servants or Self-Defence Force (SDF) officials. The Secretary General of the National Security Secretariat (NSS) and…
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The government of Prime Minister Abe, which lasted from 2012 to 2020, increased the intervention by the Prime Minister’s Office into the appointment of…
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Criteria for assessing the suitability of candidates to head NSS and CIRO were not found on the webpages of the Cabinet Secretariat, to which…
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Export Controls
Q23
75/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Japan signed the Arms Trade Treaty on June 3, 2013 [1] and ratified it on May 9, 2014. [2] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs…
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The Three Principles on Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology adopted by the Government of Japan in 2014 [1] have implications for the status…
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The National Security Council (NSC) and Japanese Cabinet approved three principles on the transfer of defence equipment and technology in 2014. The first principle…
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Lobbying in Defence
The Japan Business Federation, generally considered the most influential business federation in Japan, frequently writes in its newsletter Approaches to Current Issues that it…
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Japan has no specific lobbying legislation and the legislation that exists on undue influence is interpreted in such a way that public officials in…
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As Japan does not have legislation regulating lobbying and has no registration requirements for lobbyists, this indicator is marked Not Applicable. [1] However, Japan…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as Japan does not have legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector. The only exception are rules…
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