"Japan’s political system reeling after prime minister’s hasty exit" by Eric Talmadge, Associated Press | June 3, 2010
TOKYO — The resignation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama after only eight months in office could paralyze Japanese politics or force the creation of a new ruling coalition, analysts said yesterday, with key elections looming and the battle over the future of a major US military base still unresolved.
Related: US and Japan agree to keep Marine air base in Okinawaore
What is with the lying, MSM?
Hatoyama’s Democratic Party, which will name a new chief tomorrow, moved quickly to keep Hatoyama’s resignation from creating political chaos in the world’s second-largest economy....
Hatoyama said he would resign because of a funding scandal and his failure to keep a campaign promise to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off the southern island of Okinawa, a flip-flop that infuriated Okinawans and defined Hatoyama for many Japanese voters as a weak leader unable to stand up to Washington....
Promising to shake up Japan’s moribund status quo, Hatoyama, the scion of a wealthy family who has a Ph.D. in engineering from Stanford, swept to power in elections last August, dealing a stinging defeat to the Liberal Democrats — who represent conservatives and big business.
The Japanese voted for CHANGE, huh?
The victory was hailed as the beginning of a two-party system in Japan after decades of almost complete dominance by the LDP.
But his honeymoon ended quickly.
He and Ozawa — the public faces of the Democratic party — were hit with money scandals shortly after taking office, including a political funding scandal in which two of Hatoyama’s aides were convicted of falsifying political contribution reports.
Questions about his ethics increased after investigators found Hatoyama received $170,000 a month from his mother to support his political activities — although he said he had no knowledge of the contributions until the prosecutors’ investigation.
More crippling for Hatoyama, however, was pressure from Washington throughout his term that forced him to back away from a campaign pledge to move the Futenma base, an important US airstrip and helicopter hub, off the southern island of Okinawa.
What term?
He had a cup of coffee.
Hatoyama’s failure to stand up to Washington, which insisted a replacement base be built on Okinawa, infuriated Okinawans, who host more than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan, and generated the perception among mainstream Japanese voters that Hatoyama lacked leadership and credibility.
“The fact that the US was unhappy was a big influence,’’ said Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus. “He looked incompetent because he made a lot of noise and didn’t get anything.’’That is how I feel about Mr. Obomber.
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So who is the new man?
"Finance chief seeks top post in Japan; Ruling party to vote today" by Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press | June 4, 2010
TOKYO — The man who appeared on the cusp yesterday of becoming Japan’s next prime minister is everything Yukio Hatoyama was not — decisive, outspoken, and a populist with common roots.
Maybe not the man Washington wants.
A day after Hatoyama’s sudden resignation, Finance Minister Naoto Kan emerged as the only major candidate to lead the country, with potential key rivals throwing their support to the 63-year-old political veteran.
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan will hold party elections today to choose a new leader to replace Hatoyama, who succumbed to public disgust over broken campaign promises after just eight months in office.
Because the Democrats control a majority in the more powerful lower house of Parliament, the new party chief will almost certainly be named prime minister.
Should he win the top job, Kan will face daunting choices in how to lead the world’s second-largest economy, which is burdened with massive public debt, a sluggish economy, and an aging, shrinking population. He also must quickly revive his party’s tarnished image before upper house elections are held next month.
Like AmeriKa and Obama!
Within his own party and among analysts, Kan is viewed as the Democrats’ best hope for restoring confidence in its ability to govern and delivering a viable road map for the future....
But does Washington approve?
