Prime minister of Japan resigns
TOKYO — Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned today to improve his party's chances in an election next month, after his popularity plunged over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base.
Finance Minister Naoto Kan, who has a clean and defiant image, emerged as a likely successor. He signaled he intends to run for leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan at a party meeting to be held Friday.
Sweeping into office just eight months ago by defeating the long-ruling conservatives, Hatoyama captured the imagination of many Japanese voters with his promises to bring change and transparency to government, as the country grappled with economic stagnation and an aging, shrinking population.
So when he failed to deliver on his pledge to move the Marine Air Station Futenma off the southern island of Okinawa and his staff got ensnared in a political funding scandal, his approval ratings rapidly sank, falling below 20 percent.
"He could not live up to the huge expectations," said Tetsuro Kato, professor of politics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. "He just proved himself to be a rich kid without experience and leadership skills.
"The expectations were so great, the disappointment was also great," he added.
Hatoyama, a professor-like millionaire with a Ph.D in engineering from Stanford University, is the fourth Japanese prime minister to resign in four years. Viewed as somewhat aloof and eccentric by the Japanese public, he earned the nickname "alien."
"Since last year's elections, I tried to change politics in which the people of Japan would be the main actors," Hatoyama told a news conference broadcast nationwide. But he conceded his efforts fell short and people stopped listening to him.
In recent days, he faced growing calls from within his own party to quit or imperil its chances in upper house elections likely to be held sometime in July.
Hatoyama, the grandson of a prime minister, acknowledged in a news conference broadcast nationwide that he had disappointed the country with his handling of the Futenma issue, as well as the funding scandal.
The party's powerful No. 2, Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa — seen by many as a "shadow shogun" — also resigned.
The party will meet Friday to choose a new chief, who will almost certainly become the next prime minister because the Democratic Party of Japan controls a majority in the more powerful lower house of parliament.
