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On May 16, the newly elected President of the DPJ, Yukio Hatoyama, held his inaugural press conference, expressing his determination to “bring about a change of government”, and “create a Japanese society that brings joy to all the people of Japan.”
Hatoyama appeared before over a hundred reporters, and gave a short speech, saying, “I have been elected as President Ozawa’s successor, thanks to the expectations vested in me by many in the DPJ.” He expressed his resolve, stating, “While I understand the difficult conditions currently facing the DPJ, I will definitely ensure that the party, which has come within one step of attaining power, can realise a change of government, and create a Japanese society that brings joy to all the people of Japan. I will devote myself to this one purpose. I would like to ask for your cooperation in sweeping Japan clean and carrying out social reforms.”
Following this, Hatoyama responded to reporters’ questions. With regard to a question as to who would fill senior party posts, he answered, “I would like to make personnel decisions so as to exercise my own authority as president, by selecting people for each post who are fully capable of carrying out the role required by that post.” He added that “I will act carefully, but as speedily as possible.”
In response to a question asking about how he would go about calling for a dissolution of the Diet, Hatoyama pointed out that the supplementary budget and pension-related bills had yet to be debated by the House of Councillors. He went on to say that he would call for an early dissolution but that it would be better to do so after taking part in a certain amount of debate and dealing with important legislation, saying, “I have no intention of employing temporising measures. I would like us to put our stake on aiming for victory fair and square through debate…It is preferably for us to win by engaging in debate.” He added that he would like to engage in the head-to-head Question Time debate with Aso, if possible “with increased frequency.”
With regard to the main points of debate in the forthcoming election, Hatoyama said that “one major issue would be whether realising a change of government is what people want, or whether the public are satisfied with a continuation of the status quo.” He went on to state that issues to be raised by the DPJ would include shifting the starting point for government from “the bureaucracy to the citizens of Japan” and moving from “centralization to regional sovereignty”. In particular, he emphasised “Sweeping away wasteful uses of tax money” and “Moving from bureaucrat-led to citizen-led government,” and called for the public to support the DPJ in overthrowing the bureaucrat-centred system of government which has caused such problems as wasteful uses of tax money and amakudari.
With regard to the individual income support system for farmers that was included by former President Ozawa in the DPJ’s 2007 manifesto for the House of Councillors election, Hatoyama pointed out “Agriculture, fishing, forestry, stock-rearing, dairy-farming: such primary industries are the foundation of our nation…I would like to include them at the central [of our manifesto].” He added that he would basically continue with the easy-to-understand images of “people’s lives first” and “politics is life” and with the policy of making press conferences open to all journalists, including freelancers and the overseas media.
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