This chapter briefly recounts four public scandals related to the Japanese government’s records management in the postwar years and describes the implications of those scandals. By doing so, it explains why and how secure records management and its appropriate disclosure are important for the dependable maintenance of a democratic society properly governed by a state power. It also points out the double status of people who are subject to the state’s rules, on one hand, and who are at the same time potentially capable of revising the state’s rules. The chapter concludes by underlining the importance of public records as the link between the people and their government.