Yukio Hatoyama is a prolific Japanese politician and the 93rd Prime Minister of Japan from 2009-2010. He is currently serving his 8th term as the Member of the House of Representatives.
Hailing from a prominent Japanese political family, Yukio Hatoyama is credited with changing Japan from a de facto one-party state into a functional democracy by founding the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Yukio Hatoyama ‘s grandfather, Iichiro Hatoyama, was not just a Prime Minister himself but also a founder and the first President of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP.) Yukio Hatoyama was first elected into House of Representatives in 1986 as an LDP member. He then went on to found DPJ and led the party to victory in the 2009 general election thus becoming the first DPJ Prime Minister. During his tenure, he brought in sweeping reforms to the social spending structure of Japan.
Underlining the need to shift Japan’s focus from a more United States-centric foreign policy to a more Asia-focused policy, Yukio Hatoyama pioneered Japan’s closer ties with its neighbors including China and India. In moving towards a more Asia-centered foreign policy, Dr. Hatoyama worked towards making relations better with nearby East Asian countries. He worked to deepen economic integration with the East Asian region, pushing for a free trade zone in Asia by 2020 and proposing Haneda airport as a 24-hour hub for international flights.
With innate understanding of the potential of strategic partnerships in the Global arena, Yukio Hatoyama has been a strong supporter of the India-Japan Global Partnership and co-chaired the India-Japan Global Partnership Summit in 2011.
Prime Minister Hatoyama also promised a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying he would aim for a 25% reduction by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The targets were more ambitious than those of any other industrialized nations. His talk was welcomed at the UN and showed his leadership role in climate change. For his efforts towards confronting climate change Yukio Hatoyama was awarded the Sustainable Development Leadership Award in 2010.
Yukio Hatoyama holds a B. Eng. degree from the University of Tokyo and a Phd in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.