OUR DREAMS 1

We, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet, determined that we shall secure for ourselves and our posterity the fruits of peaceful cooperation with all nations and the blessings of liberty throughout this land, and resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people and do firmly establish this Constitution.

Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by the representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed by the people. This is a universal principle of mankind upon which this Constitution is founded. We reject and revoke all constitutions, laws ordinances, and rescripts in conflict herewith.

We desire peace for all time and are deeply conscious of the high ideals controlling human relationship and we have determined to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world.

We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth. We recognize that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want.

We believe that no nation is responsible to itself alone, but that laws of political morality are universal; and that obedience to such laws is incumbent upon all nations who would sustain their own sovereignty and justify their sovereign relationship with other nations.

We pledge our national honor to accomplish these high ideals and purposes with all our resources.

(from THE "PREFACE" OF CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN)
THE CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN : http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/English/english-Constitution.html

Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

(from THE "Article 9" OF CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN)
THE CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN : http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/English/english-Constitution.html

It was in the late fall of November, 1922, when Albert Einstein heard the news of his winning the Nobel Prize on the way to visit Japan, when Japan rolled out the red carpet for the Scientist known, at the time, as "Dr. Relativity".

During his visit, Einstein who is now one of the most well-known Nobel-Prize winning Scientists in history, said he hoped that we Japanese never loose our inherent and essential national traits of modesty, frugality, purity and tranquility.

At the end of his visit to Japan, the Scientist said he had not been aware that there still remained a modest, honest, loyal nation like Japan, who retains her beautiful natural scenery and quiet houses, which suit the beauty of her scenery and are representative of her unique value.

(Cited from an editorial "Tenseijingo" in Asahi Shimbun dated October 5, 2006)

When looking at a glass of water filled in half, a pessimist complains that the glass is only half-full. However, Japan is a country whose glass is filled to the brim with dreams and possibilities, in every respect: numerous technologies, a rich natural environment, a high level of public security, a unique wisdom resolutely turned towards the future...

(Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation – excerpt from the morning edition of The Sankei Shimbun dated January 20, 2009)