Free Republic

Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, has caused alarm in Washington after publishing an article blaming the US for the ills of capitalism, the global economy and "the destruction of human dignity". He also intends to examine an agreement that permits US warships to dock at Japanese ports, in violation of the nation's non-nuclear principles. Mr Hatoyama says he will also look again at the $6 billion cost faced by Japan to transfer thousands of US troops from their base in Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam amid a wide-ranging review of the American military...

“Everyone was convinced that there had to be a change. The DPJ will form the Government but we will not be arrogant and we will lead according to the will of the people.” The DPJ promises free secondary education, free treatment and delivery for expectant mothers, and an annual allowance of 312,000 yen (£2,000) to all children until they leave junior school. There will be a crackdown on the practice known as amakudari — “descent from the heavens” — whereby retiring civil servants secure jobs in the industries that they formerly supervised. “Japan now needs to make a clear shift...

Japan's new First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama: 'I went to Venus in a UFO' Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, faces formidable foreign policy challenges in dealing with an expansionist China, a nuclear armed North Korea and a sinister Russia. But he need have no concerns about establishing friendly relations with the planet Venus — his own wife is a friend of the Venusians, having travelled there in a UFO in the 1970s. The distinctions of 66-year-old Miyuki Hatoyama do not end there. As well a being a musical actress, cookery writer, clothesmaker and television personality,...