Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s honeymoon may be coming to an end—particularly over the issue of leadership and the confusion in his government over the fate of American bases in Japan.

When Hatoyama first came to power in mid-September, various opinion polls gave him a popularity rating of about 70 per cent.

But according to a survey conducted by Kyodo News last weekend, backing for Hatoyama has fallen to 61.8 per cent, or about 10 points down from a similar survey done right after he took office.

Analysts said it was still a creditable rating compared with that of the previous three administrations under the Liberal Democratic Party, whose leaders quickly fell out of favour with the public.

But Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had better heed the warning signs.

Three-quarters of the respondents in the Kyodo survey felt he was being pushed around by Ichiro Ozawa, the much-feared secretary-general of DPJ who crafted the party’s winning campaign strategy in the August 30 general election.

Last week, Ozawa threw a tantrum when he found out that 14 first-time DPJ lawmakers—along with 18 other lawmakers—had been roped into sub-committees that were trying to identify wasteful projects.

He said the rookie lawmakers were too inexperienced for such work and insisted that they be taken out.

It took several days before the screening work could be resumed, this time with only a group of seven veteran lawmakers.

Hatoyama, who chairs the government committee in charge of the screening process, did not make a public comment on Ozawa’s intervention despite the understanding that the latter’s authority was supposed to be confined to party matters.

“If Mr Ozawa has to be consulted on each and every appointment, those who oppose the clampdown on wasteful spending will see through the administration’s weaknesses,” warned the Mainichi Shimbun daily.

Hatoyama’s failure to make an early decision on the relocation of the Futenma Air Base in Okinawa has also put him in a bad light, in addition to straining Tokyo’s ties with Washington.

Conflicting remarks made by Hatoyama’s ministers have also tested the patience not only of Washington, but also of the local authorities in Okinawa.

Foreign minister Katsuya Okada suggested moving Futenma to the nearby Kadena Air Base, while defence minister Toshimi Kitazawa thought Hatoyama could agree to the deal made earlier with the United States to re-site Futenma to Camp Schwab, also in Okinawa, without reneging on the DPJ’s campaign pledge.

Meanwhile, a record 95 trillion yen (US$1.05 trillion) worth of budget requests by various ministries have also alarmed the public although the government has vowed to trim these down.

Some 68 per cent of respondents in the survey felt Hatoyama should put a lid on the issue of new government deficit-financing bonds, even if it means having to postpone the implementation of promises made in the DPJ manifesto, such as free tolls on highways.

Many voters are also disgruntled at Hatoyama’s appointment of former top bureaucrats to the new management of Japan Post. This contradicts the administration’s position that civil servants should be barred from taking high-paying post-retirement jobs in government-linked entities. Japan Post is currently wholly owned by the government, although it is run like a private company.

Hatoyama defended his decision in Parliament last week, saying he had put the “right people in the right positions”.

The Prime Minister has his personal woes, too. It was revealed early this week that he had neglected to declare some 72 million yen ($799,400) in income from the sale of shares. His political funds management body was earlier discovered to have attributed donations to people who were already dead. (By Kwan Weng Kin in Tokyo/ The Straits Times/ Asia News Network)