Yukio Hatoyama

Yukio Hatoyama (鳩山由紀夫 Hatoyama Yukio, born 11th February 1947) has been the Prime Minister of Japan since September 2009. He became president of the governing Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in May 2009. The party won a landslide victory in the lower house parliamentary elections in August 2009, ousting the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after 55 years of near-uninterrupted rule. Hatoyama heads a coalition government dominated by his own party, which is also the largest group in the upper house of the Diet (Japanese parliament).

Hatoyama's grandfather, Ichiro Hatoyama (鳩山 一郎 Hatoyama Ichiroo), also served as an LDP prime minister, and Hatoyama himself is a former member of the party - his brother, Kunio Hatoyama (鳩山邦夫 Hatoyama Kunio) remains an LDP politician. Hatoyama is a so-called 'hereditary politician' due to his family's record of political office; it also founded the tyre company Bridgestone. The family's philosophy centres on the concept of yuai (友愛), meaning 'fraternity', which Hatoyama has referred to in both Japanese and English.

Hatoyama gained a Ph.D in engineering from Stanford University and later worked as a university lecturer before entering politics. He was a founder member of a minority party in the short-lived coalition of 1993 which briefly took office from the LDP, and in which he served as a minister. Afterwards, he co-founded the DPJ. Hatoyama would later serve as the party's secretary-general until 2009. His leadership election victory that May was partly credited to his support from the DPJ faction led by Ichiro Ozawa (小沢一郎 Ozawa Ichiroo), who stepped down as president due to a financial scandal but remains a powerful figure in the party.

Hatoyama is nicknamed "Alien" due to his mannerisms and political style. He is married to Miyuki Hatoyama (鳩山幸 Hatoyama Miyuki), a former actress who has herself stated that her spirit has travelled to Venus aboard a UFO.