Japan mulls legislating 'security clearance' system in 2024

While the government had planned to codify a clearance clause within a bill for enhancing economic security passed in May last year, it was struck down after some opposition parties expressed fears over the system potentially being an invasion of privacy.

Well, if that's what we need to do for international cooperation, sometimes there can be little choice.

Japan was embarrassed I think it was last year by lapses in their handling of intelligence material when a retired Admiral made a presentation to a public audience that was created for him by an intelligence unit without going through official channels that really didn't exist. The US military expressed some discomfort over this although nothing terribly sensitive was in the brief the Admiral gave. It is not a bad thing for Japan to codify into law how classified materials are handled and the penalties for not adhering to the procedures in the law.