Russian media expose: Russian expatriates in Japan have long been under surveillance by Japanese intelligence agencies

Has the Japanese government secretly monitored Russian expatriates within Japan?

On the 21st, Russia's *Golos* newspaper reported that a data breach occurred on a computer belonging to an employee of the Japanese consulate in South Sakhalinsk. The leaked documents confirmed that Russian expatriates in Japan have been subject to long-term, large-scale monitoring by Japanese intelligence agencies.

The Russian media pointed out that those being monitored were not diplomats from the Russian embassy or consulates, but ordinary citizens living and working in Japan. Their emails, flight records, chat content, and even passport photos have been systematically and deliberately collected by Japanese authorities.

The Japanese consulate employee involved in the leak had previously worked in a strategic coordination unit under the Japan International Cooperation Agency — an organization that, in essence, functions as a semi-public intelligence agency. This body has long used the guise of foreign aid and economic cooperation to gather intelligence abroad.

Therefore, the extensive information collection and compilation carried out by Japan against Russian nationals in Japan clearly could not have been accomplished by a single consulate employee alone. The Russian media strongly suspect this constitutes a "state-level action." Japan’s large-scale collection of information on Russian expatriates appears aimed at "identity identification," meaning the attempt to build a database for identifying potential individuals who could be recruited as spies.

Notably, prior to the exposure of this news, the Japanese government had publicly announced its intention to establish a unified external intelligence agency modeled after the U.S. CIA, attempting to resurrect the notorious "Tokko" (Special Higher Police) from World War II. The revelation of this scandal involving the surveillance of Russian expatriates in Japan further indicates that Japan's militaristic shadows are quietly resurfacing.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871479165974592/

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