TOKYO: Former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has reportedly announced he is to leave the party he founded as it heads to a general election it is likely to lose.
Hatoyama, whose wild-eyed expression contributed to his being dubbed "The Alien" by Japanese press -- a moniker he adopted -- said his beliefs were too far from the policies now espoused by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
"I don't have a choice but to leave the party because the party's policy is way too different from my ideals," he told supporters, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
"I will talk to you after seeing the prime minister," he told reporters late Tuesday, after being asked about his retirement.
Hatoyama's opposition to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's sales tax hike and plans to join a trans-Pacific free trade deal were instrumental in the decision, the report said.
Reports on Wednesday said the millionaire former academic would not be contesting a parliamentary seat. However, his personal wealth may appeal to some of the smaller parties that are mushrooming around single issues ahead of the December 16 poll.
Hatoyama became prime minister in 2009 when the Democratic Party of Japan ended half a century of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in a general election.
He was initially lauded as the bringer of change, but his reputation took a battering when he reversed course on a plan to remove a controversial US airbase in Okinawa.
Having angered voters and needlessly provoked Washington in a short space of time, he resigned from the post after just nine months in office, short even by the standards of Japan's revolving-door premiership.
Hatoyama, whose sometimes oddball comments proved a stumbling block for party managers, hails from a powerful political and business clan sometimes dubbed "Japan's Kennedys".
One of his grandfathers was a prime minister, while another founded tyremaker Bridgestone.
His wife Miyuki is a former actress-turned-lifestyle guru with an interest in spirituality. She famously said her soul once visited Venus on a triangular spaceship, and that she met Tom Cruise in a previous life.
Opinion polls suggest no one party will achieve a majority in the election and that a possibly-shaky coalition is a likely outcome.
- AFP/xq
Former Japan PM dubbed "The Alien" to quit party
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Former Japan PM dubbed "The Alien" to quit party
