Something about the culture causes Japan’s version of liberals (in reality they tout a different mix of policies than US liberals) to be embarrassed when they break a promise, and to own up.
BBC News – Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama resigns amid Okinawa row.
A lot of external pressure feeds this amazing behavioral phenomenon which caused Yukio Hatoyama to step down from his post as prime minister.
Yes, it’s that nagging Futenma problem again. Hatoyama promised to pull the base out of Okinawa-ken and he couldn’t get it done with the Obama administration. So the fourth japanese prime minister in four years, is leaving his post.
An old problem of mal-distribution returns repeatedly to haunt Japan. They loaded the southernmost province with the bulk of the US military bases. Now even the mainland Japanese (Yamatunchu) feel sympathy for Okinawa because of this burden….. but “Not in my neighborhood” remains a huge problem. The even larger difficulty is extreme instability in N. Korea and other parts of Asia, compounding Japan’s feeling of need for the U.S. military presence.
