PROFILE: New premier Hatoyama is political blueblood with scholar background

TOKYO, Sept. 16 Kyodo -
Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has a political pedigree with a prime
minister for a grandfather and a foreign minister for a father. But, with an
academic background in engineering, he has often been seen more as a quiet
scholar type than a person suited to the world of politics.
The 62-year-old is nicknamed ''Alien'' for his unique way of thinking and
sometimes unconventional behavior, and his political creed is ''fraternity,''
inheriting the philosophy advocated by his grandfather and former Prime
Minister Ichiro Hatoyama.
He was elected as president of the Democratic Party of Japan for the second
time in May this year to succeed Ichiro Ozawa after supporting him as secretary
general for about three years, helping steer the party out of the crisis
arising from a fundraising scandal involving Ozawa's top secretary.
Hatoyama is a politician known for his gentle character and soft bearing,
drawing a sharp contrast with Ozawa's strategic, behind-the-scenes style.
Because of that, Hatoyama is often called a ''puppet'' of Ozawa.
Hatoyama was born Feb. 11, 1947, as the eldest son of former Foreign Minister
Iichiro Hatoyama.
A Tokyo native, Hatoyama graduated from the University of Tokyo's School of
Engineering. He earned a Ph.D. degree at Stanford University in the United
States.
Having an extensive background in engineering, he worked as an assistant at the
Tokyo Institute of Technology and an associate professor at Senshu University
before entering the world of politics.
Books introducing Hatoyama depict the younger Hatoyama as a man who was
unlikely to choose politics for his career, and many around him thought he
would stay in the academic world.
When he met with new U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos earlier this month
following a sweeping election victory, he told the ambassador that his love for
Japan grew during his stay in the United States and he decided to become a
politician.
Hatoyama won his first Diet seat in the House of Representatives election in
July 1986, running from a constituency on Japan's northernmost main island
Hokkaido on the Liberal Democratic Party ticket.
But he bolted from the LDP amid a row over political reforms within the party
in June 1993 and founded the now-defunct New Party Sakigake jointly with other
LDP defectors.
He left Sakigake in August 1996 to form the original version of the DPJ the
following month along with Naoto Kan, who has been picked as deputy prime
minister and strategy minister of the new government, and Hatoyama's younger
brother and former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio among
others.
Until September 1997, Hatoyama and Kan jointly represented what later became
Japan's biggest opposition party under the LDP rule.
In April 1998, Hatoyama established the current DPJ through mergers with other
opposition parties.
He became the party's president for the first time in September 1999, beating
Kan. But Hatoyama stepped down from the post in December 2002 after coming
under fire over by-election losses and for causing confusion with his proposal
to create a strong opposition alliance with other parties.
This year, Hatoyama became DPJ president again in May, defeating Katsuya Okada,
who assumed the post of secretary general under him and became foreign minister
in the new Cabinet, in a faceoff election, after his predecessor Ozawa was
effectively forced out of his post amid the fundraising scandal.
Hatoyama is a fourth-generation politician. His great-grandfather Kazuo was a
lower house speaker during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).
His grandfather Ichiro was among the founders of the LDP in 1955 and became its
first president. He is credited with resuming diplomatic relations with the
former Soviet Union, and Moscow has pinned hopes for further development in
Japan-Russia relations under Hatoyama.
Ironically, Hatoyama became the one who ousted the LDP from power -- for the
second time. The party had governed Japan for the past 54 years except for a
period of about 11 months from 1993 to 1994.
Hatoyama also contributed to snatching power from the LDP in 1993 as well, and
establishing a multiparty administration led by Morihiro Hosokawa. Under the
administration, he held the post of deputy chief Cabinet secretary.
His wife Miyuki is a former actress with the Takarazuka Revue all-women theater
play group. They met in the United States while he was studying at Stanford.
The couple are known for their closeness and went out often after Hatoyama led
the DPJ to victory in the election, as it is unlikely they will be able to
spend much time together freely now that he is prime minister.
==Kyodo