Then Digital Transformation Minister Takuya Hirai, now Digital Minister, announces the disclosure of parts of an April 7 meeting's audio data, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 22, 2021. (Mainichi/Tsuyoshi Goto)

       TOKYO -- Audio from numerous regular online meetings between Japan's Digital Minister Takuya Hirai and senior information technology officials have not been preserved or treated as official records, it has emerged.

       The Digital Agency told the Mainichi Shimbun that the "employee in charge used them as personal records." However, audio and video recordings and other data that are prepared or obtained by a public worker in the course of their duties and subject to organizational use are classed as official records under the Public Records and Archives Management Act.

       One expert told the Mainichi Shimbun, "It appears other employees could access the data, and the treatment of conference audio data as private records is questionable."

       According to the Digital Agency, online conferences had been held once a week between Hirai and the Cabinet Secretariat's Information Technology (IT) Comprehensive Strategy Office (later incorporated into the Digital Agency launched in September) since he was appointed minister for digital transformation in September 2020, and some meetings were recorded for confirmation purposes.

       Among them was an April 7, 2021, meeting reported by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other sources, in which Hirai said in connection with reduction of project expenses that technology firm NEC Corp., supplier of an app for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, "should be threatened." Hirai said of his comments at a June press conference: "Despite it only being an internal meeting and not something that should be publicly revealed, some news reports contain misleading information, and I'd like to disclose the relevant parts with a view to providing accurate content." About three minutes of the meeting including the remark in question was released to the press.

       In response, Tokyo-based incorporated nonprofit organization Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan filed a freedom of information request for audio data on all meetings since autumn 2020. But only a three-minute recording of the April 7 meeting, which appears to be the same one released to the press, was disclosed. The organization was apparently told that "data for the other days does not exist."

       Following a Mainichi Shimbun inquiry on the handling of other dates' audio data, the Digital Agency's public relations representative explained that although some meetings were recorded, they were "used by the employee in charge of managing the meetings to keep a personal record." Several employees confirmed the existence of audio for days besides the April 7 recording, and these were reportedly treated as official records.

       But because the meetings consisted of "daily operations communication, such as on task progress, between the minister and senior officials," the agency determined the recordings were to be preserved for under a year. The PR representative explained that recordings besides the April 7 one were deleted over time, and no longer existed when Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan's request was received.

       Issues concerning negotiation records of a controversial state land sale to school operator Moritomo Gakuen and daily reports on the Self-Defense Forces' part in U.N. South Sudan peacekeeping operations being classed as documents for less than a year's preservation led to the Japanese government amending official document management guidelines in 2017. Official documents which can be discarded with bureaucratic discretion after storage of under a year have been limited to seven types, and include "regular, daily communication on operations" and "schedules."

       Yukiko Miki, director of Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan, said, "In the April 7 audio, the minister is instructing senior officials on the contractor selection process. The meeting recordings are not materials to be managed personally, and probably do not constitute records for less than a year's preservation."

       (Japanese original by Ken Aoshima, Tokyo City News Department)

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