Glaring lack of political leadership

Two key issues in recent days exposed Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's painful lack of leadership.

One topic concerned an unpopular decision on highway tolls and the other was his handling of the Futenma issue.

On Thursday morning, Hatoyama indicated his government would reconsider a plan for new expressway tolls.

But hours later, Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, told reporters there would be no review of the new toll plan, which he had approved.

Maehara said he had the backing of Hatoyama and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano to stick with the new tolls, scheduled to take effect in June.

But Maehara left open the possibility the new tolls could be reviewed depending on the outcome of Diet deliberations.

Yet Maehara's comment came a day after a meeting of top government and ruling Democratic Party of Japan officials, where Hatoyama and others agreed to review the proposed tolls.

DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa asked for the new tolls to be revised because they go against the party's campaign manifesto pledge to make expressways toll-free.

Because revising the tolls in response to a DPJ request would run counter to the Hatoyama Cabinet's basic aim to unify policy decisions within the coalition government, the decision was made to back up Maehara's announced new tolls, but leave room for a possible change depending on Diet debate, sources said.

A lack of coordination in the handling of the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture also emerged.

Hatoyama said Wednesday that his Cabinet is working "as one" to solve the issue. Yet, actions on the previous day showed that was demonstrably not the case.

Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture is Hatoyama's prime candidate for relocating some Futenma functions from Okinawa Prefecture.

Asked Tuesday night about phone calls by Kinya Takino, a deputy chief Cabinet secretary, to three mayors on Tokunoshima earlier that day, Hatoyama said he didn't know what Takino had in mind in calling the mayors.

"Ask the deputy chief Cabinet secretary," Hatoyama said.

It turned out that Takino's boss, Hirano, instructed Takino to call the mayors and ask them to meet with Hirano. But they didn't let Hatoyama know beforehand.

The three mayors rejected the meeting and told the media about the calls Tuesday.

Hirano said Wednesday: "The purpose (of the calls) was to hear (from the mayors) about Sunday's rally on the island (against the relocation plan). It was not a theme that needed to be brought to the prime minister's attention."

Takino said he told Hatoyama about the calls only after they took place.