Japan PM perplexes with his "alien" ways

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asked a while back about flip-flops in remarks by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's finance minister jokingly replied: "He's a premier who is called a 'space alien', so the nuances are a bit different from earthlings."

Now some critics wonder if Hatoyama's otherworldly ways are at least partly to blame for a dispute over a U.S. airbase that could cost him his job ahead of a mid-year election his Democratic Party of Japan needs to win to avoid policy paralysis.

"There was always a Hamlet-like quality to Hatoyama," said Columbia University professor Gerry Curtis. "He wasn't sure whether he wanted to be a politician or an academic and he's wishy-washy on key issues."

Whether that means Hatoyama, who some pundits see as less sensitive to pressures felt by many politicians, clings to his job or steps down, however, is hard to predict.

"It's a close call," said Curtis, who expects him to stay on given the Democrats' harsh criticism of two recent premiers from the rival Liberal Democrats for quitting after about a year.

Once nicknamed the alien -- perhaps for his prominent eyes, perhaps for his otherworldly ideas -- Hatoyama took office last September after his Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) landslide election win over the long-dominant, pro-business Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Since then, public support for the government has plummeted to a whisper above 20 percent, raising concerns about policy stalemate if the Democratic Party-led coalition loses control of parliament's upper house in an election expected in July.

Hatoyama had raised hopes on Okinawa that the U.S. Marines' Futenma airbase could be moved off the island, host to about half the 49,000 U.S. in Japan, despite a 2006 agreement with Washington to shift the facility to a less populated part of the island.

But on Tuesday, with the clock ticking toward his self-imposed deadline of the end of the month for settling the dispute, Hatoyama told outraged islanders that part of the facility must be kept on Okinawa to meet deterrence needs.

"WEIGHT OF WORDS"

Hatoyama also sparked speculation that he was clearing the way to step down when he said his suggestion during the campaign that the base could be shifted off Okinawa was his own view as party leader, not a campaign pledge by the Democrats.

"I do feel the weight of my own words," he told reporters.

The Democrats picked the bouffant-haired Hatoyama to lead the party into last year's election after his predecessor, powerful party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, stepped down over a funding scandal.

Supporters argued then Hatoyama, the scion of a wealthy family of industrialists and politicians, was best able to hold the fractious party together, even if he was less popular among ordinary voters than a rival for the leadership post.

"Hatoyama was chosen as a successor to Ozawa because he was considered able to rally people of all hues, because he didn't have fixed views on pretty much anything," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano.

His elite background -- Hatoyama's maternal grandfather founded Bridgestone Corp, one of the world's largest tire makers, while his other grandfather was prime minister -- has also sparked criticism that he is out of touch with ordinary people.

Hatoyama used that argument to some avail when he pleaded ignorance of a scandal over false reporting of political funds, including the receipt of large amounts of money from his mother.

"The Japanese people may still think it is hardly possible for me to have not known (about the incident) but I told everything honestly and I hope they will understand as much as possible," he said after two former close aides were indicted.

Many Japanese voters appeared willing to let Hatoyama off the hook over the scandal, but surveys show a majority think he should quit if he can't resolve the base feud by the end of May.

The son of a former foreign minister and holder of a doctorate from Stanford University, Hatoyama left the LDP in 1993 along with dozens of other rebels, setting off a chain reaction that led to the ousting of the long-ruling conservative party by a reformist coalition that lasted just 10 months.

In 1998 he helped establish the Democratic Party and served as leader before resigning the post in 2002 over a party row.

As prime minister, though, Hatoyama just might turn out more stubborn. "He probably feels that he has made such a mess, (on Futenma) that he has to find a way to resolve it," Curtis said.

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Nick Macfie)