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“The two sides also set forth a strategic vision that, reflecting our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, free and open markets, and respect for human rights, will effectively promote peace, security, stability, and economic prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. At the SCC meeting, the Ministers exchanged views on the evolving security environment in the Asia-Pacific region and decided upon several steps to upgrade significantly the capability of the U.S.-Japan Alliance”  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215070.htm

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140222p2a00m0na009000c.html

February 22, 2014(Mainichi Japan)

A Justice Ministry sectional committee has proposed that the scope of crimes subject to wiretapping in Japan be greatly expanded, dividing opinions among members of a committee debating the issue.

The proposal, made by a subgroup of the “Special Committee on New-age Criminal Justice System” that was established by the Justice Ministry’s Legislative Council, was presented during a committee meeting held on Feb. 21.

Under current laws, wiretapping by investigative authorities is limited to four categories: crimes involving drugs, crimes involving weapons, group smuggling, and organized murder. A police representative on the committee criticized the current system as difficult to use, and said that the number of wiretapping investigations was low compared with those overseas. The sectional committee’s proposal suggests that nine types of crimes be added to the list, including general cases of murder, infliction of injury, blackmail or fraud, abduction, theft or robbery, arson of inhabited structures, use of explosives, and hiding criminal proceeds.

Under a basic interim framework compiled by the committee in January last year, bank-transfer fraud and organized theft — including cases involving foreign nationals — were cited as examples of an expanded scope of wiretapping. The latest proposal widens this scope even further.

Committee members representing police and public prosecutors voiced their support for the sectional committee’s proposal during the Feb. 21 meeting, saying they expected that an expanded scope of wiretapping would help with tackling crimes such as those involving gangs. Committee member Emiko Okubo, a director of an organization that supports crime victims, agreed. “Crimes that can cause physical damage and greatly harm people’s lives should be included as targets,” she said.

Opposition to the proposal emerged from several other committee members, however. “This is an investigative method that violates the secrecy of communications,” one lawyer pointed out, “and it should be limited to serious crimes, only when unavoidable.”

Committee member Atsuko Muraki, administrative vice minister of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare — who was arrested and indicted over a postal fraud case in 2009, but acquitted the following year — pointed out that the proposal lists general crimes such as theft and infliction of injury. “If the scope is expanded, restrictions through a set of conditions are necessary,” she said.

Fellow committee member Masayuki Suo, the director of a film about a man falsely accused of groping, also expressed reservations about the proposal.

“I feel vaguely uneasy about it. By going along with the uncomfortable flow of a surveillance society, efforts to restrict crime could end up restricting our lives,” he said.

The committee will continue discussion of the sectional committee’s proposal at its next meeting on March 7.