December,26,2013

In Light of Prime Minister Abe’s Visit to the Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine today. While it may be a little late, we at The Happiness Realization Party welcome this decision by the Prime Minister, as we have hoped he would visit the shrine.

China and South Korea have strongly protested the Prime Minister’s visit to the shrine, but this is merely the ingratitude of increasingly arrogant totalitarian states, and not worth bothering about. To think about the heroes who gave their lives for the country and express true sorrow, is an issue that affects the very heart of independent nations, and not something that should be criticized, either at home or from overseas.

We pray that with this visit, the nation’s leaders will be determined to comfort the souls of those who gave their lives for their fatherland, and that His Majesty the Emperor will consider visiting once more, something that has not happened since 1975.

We believe that the most important issue that faces Japan now is to recover its national pride. This summer, our party president, Ryuho Okawa, published “Okawa Statement: My Proposal” to use as a reference for a new Prime Ministerial Statement which will revise the government’s view of history. In this Statement, Okawa reveals the truth that the last great war was a holy war to free Asia from European and American colonization and shatter their racially discriminatory policies, and declares that the Kono Statement and the Murayama Statement, which were based on incorrect historical views, are retroactively nullified.

The Kono and Murayama Statements not only allow a masochistic view of history to spread and injure the pride of Japanese, it goes without saying that they diminish Japan’s standing in international society and continue to impair our national interest. We once again request that Prime Minister Abe correct this fabricated history, repeal the two Statements as soon as possible, and announce a new statement based on the Okawa Statement. Before we reach the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, our nation should establish the true historical awareness and be reborn as a nation that can contribute to peace and prosperity across the world.

Ryoko Shaku,
Party Leader,
Happiness Realization Party