It was founded by Diet members that broke away from the New Frontier Party in January 1998.

The party has political roots in Minsha kyōkai, and Minsha kyōkai is now the main political factions of the centrist DPP.

[1] The name has its origins in the Taishō period democratic movements, which used the word yūai (fraternity) as a motto.

The party also claimed that yūai had a phonetic similarity to the English "you and I", representing their hope of cooperating with ordinary Japanese.

[2] This article about a Japanese political party is a stub.