SDP leaves Japan govt with a message

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) made a natural and logical decision on Sunday and broke away from the ruling coalition of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the People's New Party.

The SDP decided to do so because its leader, Mizuho Fukushima, was dismissed from her Cabinet post as consumer affairs minister after refusing to sign the government's plan to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

Like the SDP, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, too, had pledged to seek the relocation of the air base "at least, out of the prefecture". In announcing her party's departure from the ruling camp, Fukushima said: "In practicing politics, we want to take responsibility for what we said." Hatoyama should ruminate on her words.