This is the final part of my discussion of Prime Minister Hatoyama’s speech to the Diet last week. In the final part of his speech, Hatoyama discussed Japan’s role in the international community, touching on each of the major issues facing Japan including those that he discussed at the United Nations recently. The main topics [...]

While the first two parts of Prime Minister Hatoyama’s speech (see Part 1 & Part 2) were mostly uplifting and aspirational, I found much of the more meaty areas of economics and foreign policy in his speech to be full of plattitudes and naive rhetoric. This article will focus on economics, and while Hatoyama named [...]

In Monday’s speech to the Diet, Prime Minister Hatoyama again addressed the issue of yuai, or ‘fraternity’, which he returns to again and again. He spoke of a lady that he met in Aomori, who’s son had been unable to find work and ultimately lost his life. Hatoyama described how the woman held on to [...]

Yesterday Prime Minister Hatoyama gave a lengthy (very lengthy….) speech to open the 173rd Session of the Japanese Diet. His remarks were light on details, but outlined the man’s thinking on some of the most important issues facing Japan. This article is the first of [...]