Twenty-eight years ago today, on April 3, 1997 (February 26, 1997 in the lunar calendar), Japan passed the amendment of the Law on Special Measures for Land Used by U.S. Troops. On April 3, 1997, the Japanese Cabinet passed the amendment of the Law on Special Measures for Land Used by U.S. Troops Stationed in Japan (referred to as the Special Measures Law), agreeing that the U.S. military will continue to use military land in Okinawa. The special measures law was enacted when Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972, with the aim of guaranteeing the land use rights of the U.S. military base in Japan. The Japanese House of Representatives and Senate passed this amendment on 11th and 17th respectively. The Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party voted against it in the Senate. Mr. Okinawa and Tokyo residents gathered to protest the amendment of the special measures law.