Wikileaks recently revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on Japanese government officials and Japanese companies for nearly a decade. The revelation has ignited public debate on the vulnerability of the internet, the big data war, and the acceptable level of surveillance.

Like Us on Facebook

Wikileaks's latest disclosure comes as representatives from both countries are currently in Hawaii to discuss the Asia Pacific free trade bloc that is touted to contribute around 40 percent to the world's economy. 

The document published by Wikileaks on Friday revealed that the NSA's spying exercise started in 2006.  Up to 35 Japanese telephone numbers were reportedly intercepted, including those of Japan's Cabinet office, automobile manufacturer Mitsubishi, Trade Minister Yoichi Miyazawa, and Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda.

"The reports demonstrate the depth of US surveillance of the Japanese government, indicating that intelligence was gathered and processed from numerous Japanese government ministries and offices," WikiLeaks said in a statement. "The documents demonstrate intimate knowledge of internal Japanese deliberations."

In addition, four documents were marked as top secret, and at least three documents gave a detailed outline of Japan's take on climate change - one of the important talking points during the 2008 G8 summit held in Hokkaido, Japan. It was clear that these documents were shared with G8 member countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. 

Two other documents deal with issues of U.S.-Japan agricultural trade including "content of a confidential prime ministerial briefing that took place at (Prime Minister) Shinzo Abe's official residence."

"In these documents we see the Japanese government worrying in private about how much or how little to tell the United States, in order to prevent undermining of its climate change proposal or its diplomatic relationship," said WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange.

Japan is baffled after the revelation that the US tracked deliberations in the power corridors of Japan and passed the information gathered to four of the G8 member countries.

The spokesman the Japanese Foreign Ministry did comment that both Japan and the U.S. have been discussing the issue of information collection. He did not give more details and added that in order to protect information from reaching various surveillance agencies,  Japan will continue to employ all the necessary measures.

This is not the first time that the spying network of the NSA has come in the spotlight for keeping surveillance on US' allies. The NSA has been accused of spying on the Elysee Palace - the French president's residence. In 2013,  the NSA was found tracking the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, upsetting several European countries.

TagsU.S. Spying On Japan, WikiLeaks, Wikileaks U.S. Surveillance, NSA spying programs, US Spy NSA, japan us relations