On June 23, 2026, the eighth oral argument in the "Concealment of State Funeral Documents Trial" was held at the Tokyo District Court.

The key point of this trial is what officials from the Cabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office, and the Cabinet Legislation Bureau said between July 12th and 14th, 2022.

The defendant state claims that it "did not keep records" of the state funeral negotiations and that "discarded" them. Therefore, Tansa directly questions the officials about the contents of the tripartite negotiations during witness questioning.

Initially, the four individuals were scheduled to be questioned on August 21st, but Tansa's legal team requested and was granted additional questioning time, so August 24th was added to the schedule.

For more details, please see the article below.

The questioning of the bureaucrat who repeatedly claims "I don't remember" will continue for a second day in the trial over the concealment of documents for the state funeral, on August 21st and 24th.

The next hearings will be held on August 21st and 24th, with four bureaucrats being questioned as witnesses.

Witness examinations will be held on August 21st and 24th in Courtroom 103 (Grand Courtroom, approximately 100 seats) of the Tokyo District Court. Four bureaucrats who participated in the state funeral consultations will appear in court.

▽August 21

Hiroshi Onmayashiki

Planning Officer (at the time), Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet General Affairs Office; currently, Fisheries Insurance Management Officer, Fisheries Policy Department, Fisheries Agency.

Starting at 10:20 AM. The national program is scheduled for 20 minutes, and Tansa for 45 minutes.

Yoshiyuki Nishizawa

Cabinet Counselor (at the time) in the Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Affairs Office; currently Director of the Planning and Coordination Division, Administrative Management Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Starting at 1:30 PM. The national presentation is scheduled for 20 minutes, and Tansa for 45 minutes.

Mamoru Nakajima

Director of the General Affairs Division, Minister's Secretariat, Cabinet Office (at the time), currently Counselor, Minister's Secretariat, Cabinet Office (responsible for Okinawa policy and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University)

Starting at 3:15 PM. The national presentation is scheduled for 20 minutes, and Tansa for 15 minutes.

▽August 24

Tetsuya Norikoshi

Counselor at the Cabinet Legislation Bureau (at the time), currently Policy Planning and Coordination Officer at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Starting at 1:30 PM. The national presentation is scheduled for 20 minutes, and Tansa for 40 minutes.

A debriefing session is planned after the witness examinations conclude on the 24th. Further details will be announced later.

Please come and observe the proceedings.

On June 17th, we submitted 61,620 signatures.

On June 17th, we submitted 61,620 signatures to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Nobuyuki Iwao. Please see the article below for details.

61,620 signatures submitted to Prime Minister Takaichi, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Hayashi, and Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Iwao with the hashtag "#There's No Way There Isn't a State Funeral Document" but the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications refused to accept them.

We plan to submit additional signatures as soon as we collect them.

We would greatly appreciate your continued support.

On May 12, 2026, the seventh oral argument in the "Concealment of Documents for State Funeral" trial was held at the Tokyo District Court.

In this oral argument, Judge Kenji Shinoda decided to question four government officials as witnesses.

The defendant state claims it "did not keep records" of the three-day state funeral consultations and that "discarded" them. The purpose of questioning the four officials as witnesses is to find out what kind of consultations actually took place.

The witness examination will take place in Courtroom 103 of the Tokyo District Court from 10:00 a.m. to the afternoon of August 21st.

For more details, please see the article below.

<Four individuals from the Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Office, and Cabinet Legislation Bureau are scheduled to testify as witnesses in the "Concealment of State Funeral Documents Trial" on August 21st>

The next hearing will be on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 10:30 AM in Courtroom 103 of the Grand Courtroom at the Tokyo District Court.

We plan to hold a debriefing session after the hearing. We will inform you of the details once they are finalized.

We would greatly appreciate your continued support.

On March 19, 2026, the sixth oral argument in the "Concealment of State Funeral Documents Trial" was held at the Tokyo District Court.

For this oral argument, we have scheduled the examination of four bureaucrats who participated in the three-day consultations. The proposed dates are August 21st, 24th, and September 10th.

A year and a half has passed since the lawsuit was filed, and the trial is now reaching its climax.

For more details, please see the article below.

<The trial over the concealment of documents for the state funeral is reaching its climax as four bureaucrats from the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Legislation Bureau are to be questioned as witnesses. The Grand Courtroom is overflowing with spectators.>

The next hearing will be held on Tuesday, May 12th, at 3:00 PM in Courtroom 103 of the Tokyo District Court.

At the sixth hearing, the large courtroom, with its approximately 100 seats, was overflowing with people wishing to observe the proceedings. This further highlights the growing attention being paid to this trial as a fight to protect the public's right to know.

The next meeting will be held after the scheduled date. We will inform you of the details once they are finalized.

We would greatly appreciate your continued support.

On December 23, 2025, the fifth oral argument in the "State Funeral Document Concealment Trial" was held at the Tokyo District Court.

At the previous hearing, the presiding judge ordered the government to "clarify the system for considering holding a state funeral within the government ministries and agencies and the decision-making process."

In response, the government responded at this hearing that "from the standpoint of confidentiality, there were no other officials involved in this matter other than the four."

There is no way that a state funeral can be decided by just four mid-ranking bureaucrats. It is a clear lie.

It also clearly contradicts documents previously obtained by Tansa through Freedom of Information requests.

The article provides a recap of the year leading up to this deadline. Please take a look.

Read the article here

The next hearing will be held on Thursday, March 19th at 2:00 p.m. in Courtroom 103 of the Tokyo District Court Grand Bench.

A year has passed since the first oral argument, and each time, more than 80% of the seats in the gallery are filled, demonstrating the high level of public interest.

We hope you will continue to pay attention to this.

On October 9, 2025, the fourth oral argument in the "State Funeral Document Concealment Trial" was held at the Tokyo District Court.

At the previous hearing, Presiding Judge Shinoda Kenji asked the government to "keep the 5W1H in mind" regarding the content of discussions between the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and the Cabinet Office, and requested that documents providing details be submitted.

This is because the documents submitted by the country earlier were lacking in content and it was unclear who did what, when, and so on.

Following the judge's instructions, the government revealed the names and positions of the four officials who were in charge of the negotiations and submitted a report signed by each of them, as detailed in the article below.

<Four people from the Prime Minister's Office who participated in the three-day meeting with the Legislative Bureau have been identified; contradiction in information disclosure request with "non-existence"; trial over state funeral document cover-up>

At the fourth hearing, discussions proceeded based on this newly submitted report.

The presiding judge further pursued the report submitted by the government, asking, "What is the actual decision line?" and "Is there any evidence that documents were searched?" The government promised to respond to these questions by the next court session.

For more details, please see the article below.

Presiding Judge Shinoda: "Key figures are beginning to emerge" - Unusual proposal: "Conduct witness questioning as soon as possible" / Fourth oral argument in the state funeral document concealment trial

The next hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 23rd at 1:30pm in Courtroom 103 of the Tokyo District Court Grand Bench.

We appreciate your continued support.

"State Funeral Document Concealment Trial": What are the chances of victory?

Date and time: Tuesday, September 30, 2025, 19:00-20:30

Distribution: Tansa official YouTube channel (if you reserve a viewing, you will be notified when the distribution starts)

Other: Archived, no registration required, free to participate

Next court

Fourth Oral Argument in the State Funeral Document Concealment Trial

Date and time: Thursday, October 9, 2025, 11:00-11:30 (planned)

Venue: Tokyo District Court, Courtroom No. 103

Deadline report meeting

Date and time: October 9, 2025 (Thursday) 13:00-14:30 (doors open at 12:45)

Venue: ACCEA Hanzomon Rental Conference Room No. 1

US Hanzomon Building 5F, 2-13 Hayabusacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (Approximately 1 minute walk from Exit 1 of Hanzomon Station on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line)

Application: Not required

Content: Report on deadline/Questions and answers

On June 12, 2025, the third oral argument in the "State Funeral Document Concealment Trial" was held at the Tokyo District Court.

At the previous hearing, presiding judge Kenji Shinoda asked the government to respond to "the contents of the discussions that took place over three days between the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and the Cabinet Secretariat and Cabinet Office regarding the state funeral." The government responded in the form of "preparatory documents," and this explanation from the government became the focus of the current hearing.

However, the government's explanation was that "there were no specific indications from the Cabinet Legislation Bureau" and "the emails were destroyed," avoiding a direct explanation. In response, Presiding Judge Shinoda pointed out that "I didn't really understand the explanation even after reading it." He added that he would "keep the 5W1H in mind" and ordered the government to re-examine the events of those three days and provide a new explanation by September 17th.

Please see the article for details.

https://tansajp.org/investigativejournal/12054/

The courtroom on this day was Main Courtroom 103, and the spectator seats were almost all filled, demonstrating the high level of interest in the court.

The next oral argument will be held on Thursday, October 9th at 11:00 a.m. in Courtroom 103 of the Tokyo District Court.

We appreciate your continued support.

On March 12, 2025, the second oral proceedings for the "State Funeral Document Concealment Lawsuit" were held at the Tokyo District Court.

On this day, Presiding Judge Kenji Shinoda addressed the government’s claim that no records exist of the tripartite discussions among the Cabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office, and the Cabinet Legislation Bureau. He pointed out, "Previously, when ministries explained matters to the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, the bureau’s councilors would ask questions. Ministry officials would then take those questions back as assignments, so they would take notes." He further commented, "I have difficulty imagining that no records exist in this case. Given that officials might have been concerned about the reactions of councilors, department heads, and the director-general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, I ask the government to provide further clarification on this matter." With this, the judge assigned the government a task to complete by the next hearing.

For more details, please refer to the article:

The first oral argument in the state funeral document concealment trial was held on Wednesday, December 25, 2025, from 3:30 p.m.

Many people attended the hearing, exceeding the capacity of the room. Thank you very much for coming out in the cold and showing an interest in this lawsuit.

At the beginning, the plaintiff, Tansa editor-in-chief Makoto Watanabe, made a 10-minute statement . The judges could be seen listening to him,  occasionally nodding and drawing lines on their documents.

Presiding Judge Kenji Shinoda asked the defendant to confirm the following regarding the "attached documents" regarding the content of the consultation from the Prime Minister's Office to the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which were recorded in the meeting record of Exhibit 5 submitted by the plaintiff.

1. Clarify whether or not the Cabinet Legislation Bureau has the attached documents.

2. If they have them, can you submit them as evidence without discarding them?

3. If they do not have the information, clarify the date and reason for destruction.

The defendant agreed that the Cabinet Legislation Bureau official was not in the courtroom and that he would check before the next hearing.

The next hearing will be on Wednesday, March 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Courtroom 522. Please come and observe.

About 50 people attended the report session after the oral arguments, including about 10 people who said it was their first time observing a trial.

At the briefing session, we received some enthusiastic comments and questions, such as, "Can't the government's actions be held accountable for violating the Public Records Management Act?", "The public must not be led to believe that they will forget the pain once the danger is over," and "Even if the decision not to disclose documents is revoked, are there cases in which the government will not disclose the documents? In that case, what measures will be taken next?"

 We are considering holding more presentations after the next session. We will announce them on the CALL4 case page and in Tansa newsletters.