Stepping down of Prime Minister Hatoyama causes sparks

(Oita Godo Newspaper,May 29^th 2010, Morning paper, Page 3)

Stepping down of Prime Minister Hatoyama causes sparks

The traditional Japanese and American treaty has problems which are related to Okinawa's Nago city, relocation of military base, Futenma runway's problem. " Even at least, it should be relocated to outside of the prefecture", was the expectation towards the Hatoyama cabinet, on the 28 of May, which caused many debates between alliance of Hatoyama and party from the democratic party. The leader of the socialist party who refused to sign, Fukushima, said that the government should change its direction in the cabinet meeting. Within the Democratic Party, there are signs of a power struggle to see who could get hold of the administrative powers.

The breakdown of the meeting

Mr. Fukushima said that during the time when the opposition party was in power, Nago was not under treaty, and the Japanese and American treaty was not comprehended well".

Prime minister said he truly understand what Mr. Fukushima was coming to but he said that he do not agree with what he said.

When the cabinet was first established, prime minister said that the meeting on the 28^th day will be the basis for the policies. The finance minister, and Mr. Okada foreign ministers are in attendance, as forecast by Mr. Fukushima, the decision made by the cabinet can be thought as a propaganda technique.

Prime minister said after the meeting that he wanted to speak to him in private, this was seen as a last effort persuasion, but Mr Fukushima is keen on his idea, and the one to one meeting only lasted for 28 minutes before it broke down. Finally, the final decision was to quit being the Prime minister.

Socialist party had a usual day on the 27, before the talks about relocating the military base in Nago.　The withdrawal of the coalition had lead to the resolution that there is not many members.

To sustain the coalition, Yasumasa chief secretary aimed for to be flexible, the localization of government policy, and the opposition criteria of the relocation treaty. But on the other hand, he said that he would try to persuade Mr Fukushima to have a change of heart.

Democratic Party's outreach to avoid the collapse of coalition, Mr. Kan's side advocates for other than Mr. Fukushima, terms must be met, even with compromise.

Consideration for America  

Mr Fukushima's strong stance regarding the dissatisfaction of the Socialist party, us reflected in the opposition's cabinet replacement. In the Okinawa's election too, they established a new party which liaison with Okinawa officials, hoping that Mr. Fukushima could stay in the cabinet. Even though efforts were put into persuading to stay, it is fruitless.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Hatoyama, held a 1 hr 6 minutes news conference, showing the problems regarding the relocation of the military base, and that it is impossible to relocate the base out of the prefecture. He apologized and said sorry. At peripheral, the America is placing huge pressure on the Japanese government was his explanation.

These are the problems that caused Prime Minister Hatoyama to step down. 

Comments

Japan has been a democratic nation after the influence of America on Japan after the World War 2. But for the past years, the party in power was the Democratic Party. I felt that Hatoyama has been trying his best to make Japan into a better country but fulfilling the promises that he has given. To give money to support children in Japan, to make the highways free of charge, but his policies take a long time to implement and it might bring Japan to further deficit.

The stepping down of Hatoyama has brought a shock to both foreigners and Japanese, one would wonder how would Japan progress from here, Japan there is a lot of things, a lot of policies waiting to be implemented in Japan. Hopefully the new Prime Minister, will be able to bring Japan to greater heights and that Japan would prosper in the future.   

Tay Zhong Jie Edwin

Singapore

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, APM 4