Japan, historically seen as one of the most permissive environments for foreign intelligence operations in the democratic world, is undertaking a major overhaul of its security services following a surge in Russian espionage activity after the Ukraine war. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has established a National Intelligence Council and is moving to create a new foreign intelligence agency, marking the most significant postwar restructuring of Japan's spycraft.
Why Japan became a 'den of spies'
Japan's weak anti-espionage regime stems from postwar constitutional constraints and a societal aversion to surveillance, rooted in the trauma of prewar and wartime repression. The constitution enshrines privacy of communications and freedom of expression, severely limiting official intelligence collection. Espionage itself is not illegal in many cases; only military personnel and contractors are subject to specific laws. Attempts to introduce an anti-spy act in 1985, which included the death penalty as a potential punishment, collapsed due to public backlash.
This legal vacuum has made Japan a soft target. According to a Nikkei Business report in August 2022, about 120 Russian intelligence officers were operating in Japan. That followed a police warning about them approaching employees of technology companies. One senior post at the Russian trade representation in Tokyo is always an officer of the SVR, the successor to the KGB's overseas division, according to sources quoted by Nikkei and Jiji Press.
In January, the Tokyo police public security bureau revealed that a Japanese machine-tool company employee had been disclosing trade secrets to a suspected SVR operative who had already left Japan. Then, on 12 July, a New York Times article called Japan a 'den of spies' and detailed a Russian technology procurement operation for the Ukraine war run out of a Tokyo office of Aeroflot, the Russian state-owned airline.
Government acknowledges growing threat
Japan's chief government spokesperson, Minoru Kihara, on Monday refused to comment on individual cases but acknowledged that 'in a rapidly changing security environment, the need to deal with foreign information activities that threaten our national security, such as theft of important information, is growing.'
The Specially Designated Secrets Act, passed in 2013, was supposed to address some of these gaps, with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment for leaking state secrets. However, its weaknesses were exposed in the January case, where police referred the matter to prosecutors as a case of unfair competition rather than espionage.
Japan's own intelligence capabilities
Contrary to long-held beliefs that postwar Japan had no significant spying capabilities, documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that Japan's Directorate for Signals Intelligence (DFS) has been operating since the 1950s in close cooperation with the US National Security Agency (NSA). Subsequent investigations in 2017 and 2018 by Japan's public broadcaster NHK, in cooperation with the Intercept, detailed at least six facilities with about 1,700 staff eavesdropping around the clock on phone calls and digital communications.
Operations are reported only to the prime minister and their inner circle. The agency is headquartered at a nondescript building designated 'C1' inside the defence ministry's compound in Ichigaya, central Tokyo. Cooperation between the NSA and DFS has deepened over the decades, with the US agency maintaining at least three major monitoring facilities on Japanese soil, including a surveillance station on Okinawa for which Japan contributed around $500 million in costs. In return, the NSA has trained Japanese spies and provided technology including the XKeyscore mass internet surveillance system.
What Japan is doing to up its spy game
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government is using its large parliamentary majority and a recognition that Japan now faces genuine geopolitical threats to push the first significant postwar intelligence overhaul. The National Intelligence Council Establishment Act, passed in May, creates a PM-chaired council and a 700-strong National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) that brings together previously separate operations.
The NIB is mandated to oversee counterintelligence operations, and new legislation aimed at foreign operatives in Japan is expected to be proposed by the end of 2026. The DFS will share intelligence with the new bureau but continue to operate separately. Perhaps the most radical measure is a new foreign intelligence agency—a CIA or MI6 equivalent—set to begin operations by early 2028.
