Thank you, America, for protecting Japan, an allied country. We really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts and pay tribute to the military personnel who protect Japan at the risk of their lives.

The current ruling Democratic Party and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office last September. For the last six months, the Democratic Party has been denying and overturning what the Liberal Democratic Party, the former ruling party, had accomplished in the past.

Replacing Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa has become an issue between the United States and Japan. A 2006 U.S.-Japan agreement planned for U.S. Marine Corps aircraft units to move from Futenma to Camp Schwab. The Democratic Party and many Okinawans have thought otherwise. If we can’t deal with this issue appropriately, it will lead to not only crisis for Japan but also a crisis that threatens world peace. Japan needs to play a role as an important stronghold of freedom. A good partnership between the United States and Japan will be an important key for world peace.People from the U.S., Asia, Europe, mainland Japan and Okinawa worry about that. The problem is the prejudiced Japanese mass media. It is not true when they report that all people on Okinawa want to move the Futenma units out of Okinawa.

The Happiness Realization Party, or Kofuku-Jitsugen-to, a political party, puts great importance on steadfastly maintaining the U.S.-Japan alliance. The Kofuku-Jitsugen-to is a new party founded by the Japanese spiritual leader Ryuho Okawa. We believe all sensible people from the U.S., Europe, Asia, mainland Japan and Okinawa have to raise their voices together to protect world peace.

Yukari UeharaNaha, Okinawa