Yukio Hatoyama, your new Japanese prime minister

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hhHauErWlqeL7-_dIa-mknU1vrIgD9AD86480?index=0

Perhaps not a firebrand. Anyway, the LDP have been crushed in elections and unlike the brief early 1990s interregnum this is pretty much it for them for a while; however the Democratic Party apparently isn't that much different and, like the recent string of loser LDP prime ministers, Hatoyama comes from a political dynasty:

The 62-year-old president of the Democratic Party of Japan is the grandson of Ichiro Hatoyama, who was prime minister from 1954-1956 and was also a co-founder of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. His father, Iichiro, served as foreign minister and his younger brother Kunio, who is a member of the Liberal Democrats, has served in several ministerial posts in the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso.

Hatoyama studied engineering at the prestigious University of Tokyo and earned a Ph.D. at Stanford University before starting a teaching career. In 1983, he became a private secretary to his father, and was elected to parliament three years later. He has since been re-elected seven times.

So, what happens next?

Random details:

Aloof and professor-like, Hatoyama is not seen as charismatic and has a tendency to be verbose and dismissive. He has been nicknamed "the alien" because he can come across as eccentric.

http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Won%27t_get_fooled_again.jpg

During the hard-fought two-week campaign, Prime Minister Taro Aso hammered at his opponents’ lack of experience, while the opposition said the time had come to toss out Japan’s entrenched old guard.

Makes you wonder how the last U.S. election would have played out if the campaigns were limited to two weeks instead of two years.

Aloof and professor-like, Hatoyama is not seen as charismatic and has a tendency to be verbose and dismissive. He has been nicknamed "the alien" because he can come across as eccentric.

Sounds like Gordon Brown, I give me 12 months.

I give 12 months. I wouldn't last 12 weeks as Prime Minister of Japan.

All those factions.

I give HIM 12 months. Fuck what is up with my typing.

Ned Trifle for Japanese PM!

That's weird, they already deleted the sentence about the two-week campaign from the article.

I wonder why most Americans don't realize that other countries don't drag out their campaigns over an exhausting 1 or 2 years?

The official election campaign is 12 days.

interesting commentary as per on http://www.observingjapan.com/

Koizumi used to say that he may very well end up destroying the LDP by cutting the programs that fed the party's base. He spent most of his time in office fighting stalwarts in his own party and his natural allies were ironically in opposition parties. Koizumi's reforms didn't manage to attract disenchanted voters - the reforms actually seemed to further alienate many urban, middle-class voters. The reforms DID manage to piss off the LDP's base and push them away. Mainstream voters punished the LDP for not going far enough with reforms (or going too far in the wrong areas of reform) and the LDP base punished the party for upsetting the patronage system. Result: landslide defeat. The chickens have come home to roost for the LDP.

um...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/i-have-been-abducted-by-aliens-says-japans-first-lady-1780888.html

Photo's even better!

"The 62-year-old also knew Tom Cruise in a former incarnation – when he was Japanese – and is now looking forward to making a Hollywood movie with him. "I believe he'd get it if I said to him, 'Long time no see', when we meet," she said in a recent interview. But it is her claim in a book entitled "Very Strange Things I've Encountered" that she was abducted by aliens while she slept one night 20 years ago, that has suddenly drawn attention following last Sunday's poll"

A perfect, perfect book title.

very Palinesque photo!

I'm glad to see the LDP finally get tossed out on their asses, but the DPJ will not be a significant improvement. These guys all went to the same handful of schools that produce Japan's political elite, many of them are members of political dynasties themselves, and several are former LDP members. They're a party that has been in near permanent opposition since their inception, and as such, they've never had to formulate any real policies or lay out any type of vision for how they would govern if actually given the chance. And while they may speak in broad terms about how they would like to improve Japanese society, they have absolutely no way of paying for anything they've proposed. I wish them the best, but I don't expect a lot from these guys.

Not even nine months:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-japan-prime-minister02-20100602,0,1760205.story

TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he and his powerful party No. 2 would resign after a slide in the polls threatened their party's chances in an election expected next month.

Calls have built up in Hatoyama's Democratic Party for him to step down to revive the party's fortunes ahead of an election for the upper house of parliament expected on July 11 that it must win to smooth policymaking.

With tears in his eyes, Hatoyama told a party gathering both he and party secretary-general Ichiro Ozawa would resign their posts.

Analysts have tipped outspoken Finance Minister Naoto Kan as the likely successor to Hatoyama, who quits after just eight months on the job.

is it just me or is japanese national politics (don't know about local) the most boring thing ever?

it's just you ammy. the underlying issue is about our (me+you) country's military outpost on japan's colony of okinawa. kinda sensitive issue for americans, japanese and okinawans afaiac.

is it just me or is japanese national politics (don't know about local) the most boring thing ever?

I think it's quite interesting. I don't know how four prime ministers in four years could be described as "boring."

Hatoyama is a bit of a loon and a sorry leader, but I'm sorry to see the DP take such a hit. I actually felt some optimism and enthusiasm after the last election.

Every Japanese Prime Minister seems to be a dead man walking as soon as they're elected! I wish that happened here in the UK too, it'd be far more entertaining.

Actually I think many Japanese feel the same way amateurist does, for exactly the same reasons why there have been four prime ministers in as many years.

that's the impression i get from a few japanese friends who seem even more cynical about national politics as the americans i know.

that it's basically a grudge match between several sets of marginally-distinguishable elites. ha! i guess this is the line that some have about the us elections as well, though i wouldn't completely agree.

Fu*k it. It's time to start a "bring back Koizumi" campaign. If they were able to get Betty White on SNL, then this should be a piece of cake.