Yukio Hatoyama

Prime Minister of Japan from 2009 to 2010

Yukio Hatoyama (鳩山 友紀夫, born 鳩山 由紀夫) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and Leader of the Democratic Party of Japan from 2009 to 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. Hatoyama is currently the founder and leader of Kyowa Party, a minor political party established in 2020 after he announced his return to politics. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoyama became President of the DPJ, the main opposition party, in May 2009. He then led the party to victory in the August 2009 general election, defeating the long governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which had been in power for over a decade. He represented the Hokkaido 9th district in the House of Representatives from 1986 to 2012. In 2012, Hatoyama announced his retirement from politics. Hatoyama, who was born in Bunkyō, Tokyo, is a fourth generation politician. His paternal great grandfather, Kazuo Hatoyama, was speaker of the House of Representatives of the Diet of Japan from 1896 to 1897 during the Meiji era. Kazuo later served as the president of Waseda University. He met his wife, Miyuki Hatoyama, while studying at Stanford (Miyuki was working at a Japanese restaurant). Because of his quirky hairstyle, prominent eyes, and eccentric manner, he is known by his supporters and his opposition alike as "ET" or "The Alien", a nickname his wife states he earned because of how different he is from old style Japanese politicians. Another nickname commonly used by the Japanese public in press was Popo, after a children's song about a pigeon that starts with the lyric "popopo, hato popo"; the first character in Hatoyama's last name is the Japanese word for 'pigeon'.

Hatoyama entered his prime minister career with a high approval rating. The DPJ promised to end lavish spending on public works projects associated with LDP and to divert that money to tax cuts and subsidies for households. Expectations were high that he would break strongly with the policies of the LDP. Hatoyama's popularity soon began to falter after the DPJ struggled to meet the high expectations they set in the midst of a sliding economy. In May 2010 he faced a possible no confidence vote, and on 2 June 2010, Hatoyama announced that he would be resigning as Prime Minister. Although Yukio Hatayoma was prime minister for less than a year, he had a wide range of achievements to his name by the time that he left office. Amongst his achievements included:

The introduction of a state subsidy for families with young children. The abolition of public high school tuition fees. The introduction of an individual household income support project for rice farmers. The restoration of the Additional Living Support Allowance for Single Mother Households. A big increase in social spending, with the social security budget, including spending on childrearing, nursing care, and medical care, increased by 9.8% as child allowances were introduced and the remuneration schedule for medical services was increased for the first time in ten years. A reduction in medical expenses for unemployed persons. However, according to NHK in 2010 prosecutors chose not to pursue him citing insufficient evidence of criminal activity, although a secretary was given a suspended prison sentence, and a review panel commented: "it is difficult to believe Hatoyama's assertion he was unaware of the falsifications."

In December, the DPJ created a government task force to review government spending and pledged to make cuts equal to $32.8 billion. However, the task force cut only a quarter of that amount. Hatoyama even had to renege on a campaign promise to cut road related taxes – including a highly symbolic gasoline tax and highway tolls. Hatoyama faced criticism from fringes of his own party, some calling for a return to public works spending. The DPJ's election platform called for re examining its ties with the United States. Hatoyama ended an eight year refueling mission in Afghanistan, a highly symbolic move because the mission had long been criticized for violating the nation's pacifist Constitution. In order not to anger Washington, Hatoyama offered $5 billion in civilian aid for Afghanistan reconstruction. Hatoyama was also faced with the issue of the relocation of the American Futenma Marine Corps Air Base. The United States government hoped that Hatoyama would honor a 2006 agreement to relocate the base to a less populated part of Okinawa and move 8,000 marines to Guam. Some voices in the DPJ demanded that America move its military bases off Okinawa islands altogether. Hatoyama worked to deepen economic integration with the East Asian region, pushing for a free trade zone in Asia by 2020 and proposing Haneda airport as a 24 hour hub for international flights. In January 2010, he welcomed South Korea's president, calling for 'future oriented' ties, as opposed to recalling the past, in which Japan colonized Korea. Relations with China also warmed under Hatoyama. The first few months saw an exchange of visits, including one by favored successor to China's leadership Xi Jinping, for whom Hatoyama hastily arranged an appointment with Emperor Akihito. On 7 January, the Daily Yomiuri reported high level discussion over a further exchange of visits between the two countries to promote reconciliation over historical issues. "Beijing aims to ease anti Japan sentiment among the Chinese public by having Hatoyama visit Nanjing and express a sense of regret about the Sino Japanese War", the paper reported.

On 2 June 2010, Hatoyama announced his resignation as Prime Minister before a meeting of the Japanese Democratic Party. He cited breaking a campaign promise to close an American military base on the island of Okinawa as the main reason for the move. On 28 May 2010, soon after and because of increased tensions from the sinking of a South Korean navy ship allegedly by North Korea, Hatoyama had made a deal with U. S. President Barack Obama to retain the base for security reasons, but the deal was unpopular in Japan. He also mentioned money scandals involving a top party leader, Ichirō Ozawa, who resigned as well, in his decision to step down.

After stepping down as prime minister Hatoyama continued to serve as a DPJ diet member. When Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda introduced legislation to raise the consumption tax from 5% to 10% Hatoyama was one of 57 DPJ lower house lawmakers who voted against the bill. His membership in the DPJ was suspended for six months, subsequently reduced to three. Unlike some of the tax rioters, Hatoyama did not leave the DPJ to join Ichiro Ozawa's People's Life First party, but continued to act within the DPJ to fight against both the consumption tax increase and the restart of nuclear plants. On 20 July 2012 he addressed a crowd of protesters outside the prime minister's residence, saying it was premature to restart nuclear reactors. In the lead up to the 16 December 2012 general election the DPJ announced that it would not endorse candidates who did not agree to follow its current policies, including the consumption tax hike and support for joining the negotiations to enter the Trans Pacific Partnership. On 21 November Hatoyama proclaimed that he would retire from politics. On 9 January 2013, Hatoyama expressed a government apology to the victims of Japanese war crimes in China during a visit to Nanjing. He also urged the Japanese government to acknowledge the dispute between the two countries concerning sovereignty of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. On 21 March 2013, Hatoyama was appointed as the honorary chairman and a senior consultant of Hoifu Energy Group. In March 2015, Hatoyama visited Crimea and claimed that the referendum in Crimea was "constitutional." In August 2015, Hatoyama visited the Seodaemun Prison History Hall, where he knelt and bowed before a memorial to Korean independence activists killed by Japan during 1905 1945. He expressed his remorse for Japan's occupation of Korea. Hatoyama practices the Transcendental Meditation technique and delivered the Maharishi University of Management commencement address on 23 May 2015 and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Hatoyama continues to display his outspokenness after his retirement from politics. He is one of the most followed Japanese current/ex politicians on Twitter and still regularly weighs in on current affairs. In 2023 he falsely claimed on Twitter that Ukraine was planning to launch a nuclear attack on Russia; he apologized for what he said was a translation issue. In 2020 Hatoyama formed the Kyowa Party. He has announced his intention to run for office in the 2025 election. His former DPJ colleagues expressed irritation with him for claiming to form a party without any clear base of political allies.

On 5 February 2010, Hatoyama was awarded the Sustainable Development Leadership Award of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2010. The reason for the award was "his effort to confront climate change and leading his government to make it a main issue".

In 2010, Time magazine's "Time 100" elected Hatoyama as No. 6 among the 100 most influential people in the world. It said Hatoyama had "helped change his country from a de facto one party state into a functional democracy", through the DPJ victory in the 2009 general election.