Japanese PM resigns amid US military base row
Press TV – June 2, 2010

Yukio Hatoyama was Japan’s fourth prime minister in four years.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama who took power less than nine months ago following a landslide victory has announced his resignation.
Hatoyama, 63, announced the decision on Wednesday at a special parliamentary meeting of lawmakers from his Democratic Party of Japan, AFP reported.
“The government’s work has not reflected the public’s wishes,” the Japanese premier said.
Hatoyama further added that he had also asked party heavyweight and secretary general Ichiro Ozawa to quit.
The Japanese prime minister was forced out as his poll ratings plummeted after he broke an election promise to move an unpopular US military base off the southern island of Okinawa. The move angered the people of Okinawa who have long been complaining about base-related noise, pollution and crime.
“I have caused trouble for the people of Okinawa,” Hatoyama said.
“We will need to make efforts to move the US base outside of Okinawa. But the result was that we could not deliver,” he further explained.
After months of tensions, Tokyo and Washington announced in a statement last week that the US base would be moved, as first agreed in 2006, from a crowded urban area to a coastal region of Okinawa. The move infuriated Okinawans as many want the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station moved off the island entirely.
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