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It seems that honey moon period is over for Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. Hatoyama just made 100 days since he was elected as the Prime Minister after a decisive win by his Japan Democratic Party, but his public support nose dived to around 45%, almost 20% down in one month.

One of the critical reason for the plunge of his public support is his lack of leadership. He failed to make a decision over the relocation of US Marine based in Okinawa and aggravated the relationship with the US. He is not handling alliance relationship with Japan Socialist Democratic Part and Japan New National Party. He is wishy washy ever, but his indecision may really lead Japan to the wrong path. Many Japanese believe that he is controlled by Ichiro Ozawa, a chief secretary of Japan Democratic Party.

It is not clear that if Hatoyama's indecision is related to Ozawa's opinion, but at least we want to know what is causing such mess behind the scene. Whether it is right or wrong, I think Ichiro Ozawa should be the Prime Minister and take full responsibilities rather than controlling someone from the back.

Written by Nobu, a webmaster of About-Japanese.com

Tokyo failed to win the rights to host 2016 summer Olympics. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil beat Madrid in the final stage of voting to host Olympics for the first time in South America region. New Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama went to Copenhagen to make the final appeal to vote for Tokyo.

It was a pretty disappointing result, but many Japanese expected this loss. Japan boasts the second largest economy in the world, but she will lose this position to China soon and the presence of Japan has been rapidly diminishing in the international community. With the emerging power of BRICS nations in the international politics and economy, I think this Olympics vote reflects the future state of world power balance. That said, it is interesting that Chicago was eliminated from the very first round of voting even though the US President Obama and his wife made a very tight trip to Copenhagen to promote Chicago.

Many Japanese may be losing a confidence and hopes for the future facing current sluggish economy and diminishing population with aged society, but I think we should face the reality and structure the happy society after losing the position of the second largest economy. We should be proud of our distinct culture and restructure our harmonized society.

Written by Nobu, a webmaster of About-Japanese.com