Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Democratic Party of Japan rode into power in the fall of last year on the promise of tax cuts and
a fresh approach to foreign policy. After a spate of crises less than a year after taking office, Hatoyama's approval rating plummeted. Last week, a small leftist party allied with the DPJ split from the ruling coalition. On Tuesday, Hatoyama announced he would step down as prime minister.
A financial scandal involving DPJ stalwarts partially explains Hatoyama's fall from grace. Equally vexing for the 63-year-old from one of Japan's leading political families was what one analyst calls Hatoyama's "miscalculation" regarding the six-decade military alliance between the United States and Japan. In his election campaign, Hatoyama had vowed to revisit a 2006 deal allowing 4,000 U.S. Marines to remain on the crowded Japanese island of Okinawa, which in World War II was the site of a bloody battle between invading Marines and Japanese defenders. ...