Japan's centrist government criticized its conservative predecessors Tuesday for keeping nuclear and military deals with the U.S. secret during the Cold War.
A panel of historians released a report Tuesday confirming previous reports from whistleblowers (informers), media leaks and declassified U.S. documents confirming that Tokyo has allowed nuclear-armed U.S. ships to navigate Japanese waters in violation of policy.
Japanese governments have denied for decades they were breaking the country's official non-nuclear policies.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada expressed his regret at a news conference Tuesday that the deal had remained secret to the Japanese and to parliament, even after the end of the Cold War.
Conservative parties ruled Japan for most of its post-war period, but were ousted in elections last August that brought to power Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
