Japan Historic Power Shift

New Japan reformist leader Yukio HatoyamaYukio Hatoyama,the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)chairman,has made history in a major power shift as Japan's new Prime Minister.

He faces tough challenges to lead Japan out of economic slump and meet the high expectations of voters fed up with corrupt politicians.

Yukio,62,is scion of the rich and famous Hatoyama political family like the Kennedy family in the U.S.

He is son of former Japanese foreign minister Lichiro Hatoyama.His grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama was a founder and first president of the ousted ruling Liberal Democratic Party(LDP).The late Ichiro was the Japanese Prime Minister who restored relations with Russia to pave the way for Japan's membership admission into the United Nations.

His mother,Yasuko Hatoyama,the daughter of Bridgestone Corporation founder Shojiro Ishibashi and heir to the huge Bridgestone inheritance,bankrolled Yukio to establish the Democratic Party of Japan( DPJ).

His wife,Miyuki,Japan's new First Lady, is a former actress.She divorced her former husband to marry Yukio in 1975.Both Yukio and Miyuki studied in Stanford University where Yukio graduated with a Ph.D in Managerial Engineering in 1976.

Yukio is also a graduate of Japan's top University of Tokyo.

Yesterday(Sept.16,2009),upon his election in Japan's Parliament as new Prime Minister,Yukio named his right hand comrade, Naoto Kan, as deputy premier and head of a new National Strategy Bureau to oversee the powerful Japanese bureaucracy.

Yukio also appointed two key allies - former DPJ leader Katsuyo Okada as foreign minister and veteran bureaucrat Hiroshisa Fujii as finance minister - to help him lead Japan out of the doom gloom of national political discontent and economic slump.

He vowed a more receptive and responsive government that would listen to the people and promote and improve their well-being under a "horizontal society" transformation strategy.

How this strategy would work remains to be seen in future.

But exciting new political and economic trends are expected to break out and emerge from Japan,a nation under great stress because of the global financial crisis.

Japan is the world's No.2 economic power after the U.S.

It has been hard hit by drastic decline in exports,record joblessness and corporate losses and bankruptcies.

The ousted ruling Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) was kicked out of power despite having ruled Japan for 54 years but 11 months since 1955.

The DPJ led by Yukio swept to a landslide win on August 30 snap poll winning 300 of the 480-seat House of Representatives,Japan's Lower House of Parliament.

To reinforce the parliamentary majority,Yukio shrewdly got two other opposition parties - the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party - to join in coalition with DPJ to form the new government.

For Yukio,yesterday's assumption of power as the new Prime Minister of Japan was a historic milestone in his political reform struggle.

Together with Naoto Kan,Masayoshi Takemura and Shuhei Tanaka,Yukio left the LDP in 1993 to form the New Sakigake Party.

He succeeded Ichiro Ozawa as DPJ leader in May 2009 upon Ozawa's resignation.

Yukio represents the 9th district of Hokkaido in the House of Representatives.He was first elected to the House in 1986.So it has been a long journey of hard work,political change activism and leadership for Yukio,strongly supported by his mother and allies, to reach the pinnacle of Japan political power.

In 2002,he had to eat humble pie standing down as DPJ leader because of opposition within DPJ to his plan to merge DPJ with other opposition parties to forge a new political reform force.

Now his dream has finally come true.The opposition led by DPJ controls both houses of parliament in Japan - something undreamt of to be possible in formerly LDP iron-clad controlled and ruled territory.

Nicknamed "ET" or "Alien" because of quirky hairdo and eccentric way,Yukio is expected to make a big difference in the new Japan political landscape.

He has already voiced his aims to transform Japan into a better and more meaningful nation able to stand out on the world political stage and speak out proactively and frankly on global issues as a vital force in the international community.

But for now,his most urgent duty is to put Japan House in order both politically and economically after the past political scandals and economic decline leading to huge losses by big brand icons such as Toyota Motors and others.

So watch out for the new Japan Power Shift fast forward change under Yukio!