politics

Hatoyama becomes prime minister, vowing to end bureaucrat-led politics

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hoping for really big change in japan!

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Looking very prime ministerial with that Miyuki-picked tie and pocket handerchief.

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Will there be change? I doubt it, but his wife is a kick.

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PM Hatoyama,welcome to Shakedown Japan 2009/2010s Job,nice tie.

Shakedown 2009/2010s management ,requires more than nice ties.

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Mr. Pigeon Mountain ganbatte!!

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Why do I keep thinking about a line from a song by The Who?

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DPJ planned it and won. Now we have to give them a chance to govern. Good Luck Hatoyama...it will be a tough time a head of you. Jobs should be in your high priority. People are suffering and I am one of them. If I see real change in this area, next election you have my vote again.

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No doubt he's got class. Good luck for the task !

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60th in what, 62 years ? also, how about this tidbit: new minister for financial services, 72 yrs old...new finance minister, 77 yrs old...did anyone say 'change' ?

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Sorry, the tie does not do much for me. Instead of poncing around in such a kit, I would be happier if he turned up in t-shirt and thongs (with a stubby in his hand) if it meant that he was going to get on with the job of sorting out Japan's myriad ills.

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Shall we start up a book on how long he will last in the job? I give him 14 months.

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stirfry - I read that with some trepidation, too. Particularly as the 77-year old duffer, oops I mean Finance Minister, is a former high-ranking bureaucrat. Which doesn't bode well for the twin promises of filleting the bureaucracy and ending amakudari.

Step this way for disappointment, a childish "you see? I told you so" campaign from the LDP and another election in about 9 months, returning the LDP to their accustomed positions for another couple of wasted decades.

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Congratulations!!!!

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Congratulations Mr Hatoyama! We are all relying on you and supporting you!

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Congratulations Mr Hatoyama! Hopefully you'll make the difference!!

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PM Hatoyama,welcome to Shakedown Japan 2009/2010s Job,nice tie.

Shakedown 2009/2010s management ,requires more than nice ties

From my sources, I tend to agree that that may be in the cards - we'll see in the first 90 days if Forex is involved.

As far as the Hatoyama Cabinet, if they can grasp the overall situation, they may be able to find a path of clear sailing on the high seas. Ganbatte.

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Congratulations!!!

See you when we get to Venus with Tom Cruise.

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I believe that Mr. Ozawa will be PM within six months to a year.

Prayers for you, Mr. Prime Minister.

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Not 60th prime mister. Mr. Hatoyama is 93rd prime mister.

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CNN reported that he plans to 1. try to reduce or eliminate outsourced or contract work and 2. plans to give 100,000 yen a month to JAPANESES unemployed workers until they get a job. Both of these things are pretty much anti-foreign labor. By law all foreigners are required to be CONTRACTED workers. It is written in the immigration rules. So basically protectionism is well and alive in Japan.

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congradulations! like my uncle next door.

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Now that would truely be revolutionary! Come on, Mr. Hatoyama, make me eat my previous words about the DJP!

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Look out for the Ozawa double cross and eventual rule.

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Congrats!

...I give him 13 months. 13 is my lucky number.

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SSDD just like Obama's change, nothing changes except who's getting the graft.

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Congratulations Mr. Hatoyama, and best of luck; you have tasks of tremendous difficulty before you. Ozawa certainly seems to be the puppetmaster in the shadows, so we'll see what happens should Hatoyama stumble. The costs of raising a child in Japan seem enormous by relative standards, and with the dearth of proper paying full time work (not to mention the harsh stance towards pregnant women in the workforce) the system appears almost deliberately detrimental to young married couples seeking to start a family. Promising per-child, monthly aid is nice but in the end, the unemployment / partial employment issue needs to be addressed effectively (something every other country is struggling with as well, to be fair).

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I certainly wish Mr. Hatoyama the best of luck as he is going to need it. Although I don't think this is the time to be pushing Anti-US rederick. There is already enough of that as is without Mr. Hatoyama's help. Japan-US relations have always been somewhat unstable to begin with. We don't need any more friction to add to that. Hatoyama focus needs to be on the economy and not on things of which to further destabilize that. While I am all in support of Japan being more independent. To what degree will always be up for debate.

Less dependence on US just means more dependence on someone else. Which in turn all comes back full circle anyways. China has found that out first hand as were not as immune to the financial crisis as they thought they were. Another key problem is that Japan is still a very closed society. They have no problem exporting but import almost nothing. The US Japan trade has always been one sided which hasn't helped the situation any. Not to mention being so anti-foreigner doesn't help matters any. Tourism I feel could be huge in Japan but at current is even below some third world countries lol. As long as Japan still remains a mostly closed society change will not come.

In regards to the base issue this no doubt will be a tough sell. There is still fear among many in the West that a complete withdrawal from Japan, considered a vital national security interest could threaten to destabilize the entire region. A US withdrawal would mean Japan would likely have to re-militarize. This likely would not go over well with China or anyone else in the region for that matter. It would directly change Japan's status as a military power and therefore would also make them a target for terrorists. This is something Japan doesn't need right now and would only further destabilize the economy.

In addition to this, like it or not. The Japan-US economy are two intertwined to really be able to separate themselves that much. Japan along with China own 70% of the US debt.. Not to mention a huge investment in many of it's largest Corporations, Banks, Institutions as well as a large part of Wall Street. China is somewhat similar although not on as large of a scale. So Mr. Hatoyama while I praise his taking a bold stance and commitment for change. His Anti-US position will not get him to far and likely just more criticism for worsening the situation then it already is.

Although on the flip side at least if there was no US presence. Japan couldn't blame the West for all of it's political and domestic problems. This is reason enough to keep the bases there lol. I hope for Mr. Hatoyama sake he is able to turn around and bring honor and respect to his party and not disgrace. I wish the same for Mr. Obama as well as both are going to need it.

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Correction:

rajakumar at 03:09 PM JST - 16th September

PM Hatoyama,welcome to Shakedown Japan 2009/2010s Job,nice tie.

Shakedown 2009/2010s management ,requires more than nice ties.

From my sources, I tend to agree that that may be in the cards - we'll see in the first 90 days if Forex is involved.

As far as the Hatoyama Cabinet, if they can grasp the overall situation, they may be able to find a path of clear sailing on the high seas. Ganbatte.

To ReikiZen:

Your post is definately thought provoking and some of the topics have crossed my analysis. PM Hatoyama is not "Anti-US", but more so wants a more transparent relationship where what is stated is the actual policy (example: secret Japan-US nuke pact). I, myself have had numerous problems w/ the situation where I pursue a pro democracy, pro capitalism policies, but is not acceptable to certain parties in the US. The "actual" policy is not clear, but I have analyzed much, much deeper into the subject on the internet, and at least now have gotten a grasp of some of the inconsistencies.

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Japanese ministers have very small personal offices with only a few assistants - they rely entirely on the departmental staff to brief them on business. For the politicians to do anything they are going to have to drastically increase the size and power of the ministers' offices. I'm not sure buy it's my understanding they do do work in their department's building but from their Diet office.

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He's a politician and none are better at flip-flopping than they are. He stressed that he wanted to be more independent of the US but doesn't seem to have the balls to proceed with this intention. Diplomacy is one thing but I sense that he won't see this through.

I hope he at least keeps his promise to put Japan and it's people first, ensuring Japan's future and stability.

I am also a big supporter of his East Asia Community concept and I've actually dreamed of something similar for most of my life.

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erratum: I'm not sure buy it's my understanding they do NOT work in their department's building but from their Diet office.

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Noborito... your comments are hilarious. Thanks for sharing.

The elimination of contract work sounds particularly naive of Mr. Hatoyama. Let me see. How would that work? Organizations would hire workers who have the skills and efficiency of entire companies, is that it? So if I have been contracting out food services for my employees, I will now hire workers as cooks and do that in-house, is that right? Oh, and I have to train them because I can't hire a contractor to do that either.

It is hard for me to imagine a more wrongheaded policy. Factor in that contract work is done by small businesses, and can it be said that the DPJ is against small businesses? Against productivity growth? Against dissemination of technology and knowhow?

The payments to unemployed workers seem kind of silly too. There IS work to be done, but let me see... 1000 yen per hour 40 hours a week gives you about 170000 per month. Effectively, it will become impossible to find help at convenience stores for 20 hours per week if people can sit at home and "earn" 100000 per month. They certainly will not be starting any contracting businesses either.

I think we are going to find out what we all kind of expected. All of those promises shouted from sound trucks are not going to amount to a hill of beans because these politicians have no idea at all of how society functions. I know it is not popular to say so, but I think Japan's bureaucracy is to be trusted with Japan's future. These DPJ guys are looking like clowns. Their slogan should be NO WE CAN'T!!!

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