Hatoyama, Yukio, << hah toh yah mah, yoo kee oh >> (1947-…), was prime minister of Japan from September 2009 to June 2010. In 2009, he led the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to victory over the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a general election. The LDP had led Japan’s government almost continuously since 1955. Hatoyama had formerly belonged to the LDP. In 2010, he quickly lost popularity after he announced that he would not be fulfilling a campaign promise to force a United States military base to leave the Japanese island of Okinawa. Facing mounting pressure from within the DPJ, Hatoyama stepped down as prime minister in June.
Yukio Hatoyama was born on Feb. 11, 1947, in Tokyo. Like many Japanese politicians of his generation, he came from a wealthy and politically prominent family. His father, Iichiro Hatoyama, worked for the Japanese government as a legislator and foreign minister. His father’s father, Ichiro Hatoyama, was the LDP’s first prime minister. His mother’s father was Shojiro Ishibashi, who founded the Bridgestone Corporation, one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers. Yukio Hatoyama earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1969 and a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University in Stanford, California, in 1976. He taught management at Senshu University in Tokyo for several years.
In 1983, Hatoyama went to work as a secretary for his father. Iichiro Hatoyama at that time was serving in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Diet, the Japanese legislature. In 1986, Yukio Hatoyama won election to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Diet, representing Hokkaido as a member of the LDP.
In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, a number of leading LDP members were accused of raising campaign funds illegally. Some were tried and convicted of corruption. Hatoyama thought the LDP had failed to respond strongly enough to corruption within the party, and in 1993 he left the LDP. That year, the LDP lost its majority in the Diet to a coalition of opposition parties. Hatoyama served as deputy Cabinet secretary in the coalition government, the first non-LDP government in Japan since 1955. In 1994, however, the coalition collapsed, and the LDP returned to power.
Hatoyama helped found a new party, called the Democratic Party of Japan, in 1996. In 1998, the party merged with several other opposition parties to form a new DPJ. Hatoyama served at different times as the party’s coleader, secretary general, and, from 1999 to 2002, president. In May 2009, he was again elected president of the DPJ. He became prime minister after the party won a majority of seats in the lower house of Japan’s parliament in elections held that August.
Political analysts cited several factors that contributed to the Hatoyama government’s disappointing performance. Many critics saw Hatoyama as indecisive after he reversed his position on relocating the U.S. military base on Okinawa. His term in office was plagued by factional infighting within the DPJ over the role and tactics of former party head Ichiro Ozawa. In addition, the economic strain of a global financial crisis and recession that began in 2008 made it difficult for the DPJ to enact its planned reforms, which some critics saw as overly ambitious.
