FOCUS: Hatoyama resignation could lead to brothers homing in on Aso+

TOKYO, June 12 Kyodo - Kunio Hatoyama's resignation Friday as internal affairs and communications minister has raised the possibility that he could join his brother Yukio, leader of Japan's main opposition party, in a two-pronged family attack on Prime Minister Taro Aso, the grandson of their grandfathers' archrival.

Kunio quit his Cabinet post after the recent kerfuffle over the management of
Japan Post Holdings Co., a symbol of Japan's postal privatization reforms.
After tendering his resignation to Aso, Kunio, who has been a close ally of the
prime minister, told reporters, ''I will consult with my fellows'' on whether
or not he will leave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Asked if he would join up with his older brother, president of the Democratic
Party of Japan, Kunio said ''I will not tie up with him,'' but also added that
''This is an issue for the future.''
The two brothers, grandsons of former Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, have
recently been rumored to be seeking to tie up and form a new party ahead of or
shortly after the coming election for the House of Representatives, which must
be held within the next few months.
''His resignation has cleared the way for the next step (a possible alliance)
in a very good way,'' said Eiken Itagaki, a political analyst who has written a
series of books on the brothers, their grandfather and father Iichiro Hatoyama,
a former foreign minister.
''If the DPJ secures a majority in the election, Kunio would have a good chance
of getting a key post,'' Itagaki said, adding that he has ambitions to become
prime minister.
Analysts believe the DPJ has a good shot at wresting power from the ruling
LDP-New Komeito bloc at the next general election given the problems Aso faces
and his low popularity.
When the Japan Post issue was deepening last week, Yukio, who has charged Aso
with wasteful economic measures and bureaucracy-oriented policymaking, invited
Kunio to leave the post quickly and ''take a new road.''
''In the political circles of Nagatacho,'' Yukio said, ''two pigeons are poking
at Prime Minister Aso. I am doing it fair and square, but the other is gouging
out his insides,'' referring to Kunio. The Japanese word ''hato'' means pigeon.
Aso had been in a dilemma for several weeks, as Kunio insisted that Yoshifumi
Nishikawa be removed as head of the government-owned Japan Post, while
reformists and many other lawmakers in the LDP said Nishikawa should stay and
press ahead with the reforms.
Signaling their increasing closeness, the Hatoyama brothers formed a political
school last year called ''Hatoyama Yuai Juku'' (Hatoyama Fraternity School) to
promote a philosophy of fraternity as advocated by their grandfather, with the
aim of creating a society based on love and happiness.
In addressing students of the school in April 2008, Yukio said, ''People say we
are at strife, but I have never forgotten the bond called 'love' (with my
brother) and would like you to learn the various forms of the fraternal
spirit.''
Itagaki said, ''It doesn't matter to them whether or not they belong to the LDP
or DPJ. They are seeking to join hands over something greater, and that is
fraternity.''
At a party last December, Kunio also said that which political party they
belong to was decided in ''almost the same way as when we are separated by
lottery into a 'red' or 'white' group (at sports events) in elementary
school.''
''It is desirable that a party be formed by those who have the same ideas,
philosophies and basic policies,'' he added.
He has also played up his intimacy with Yukio. ''The relationship between my
brother and me is closer than that between my brother and (then) DPJ President
Ichiro Ozawa. My brother is always saying that too,'' he said.
Listening to Yukio's fraternity philosophy, Aso, grandson of former Prime
Minister Shigeru Yoshida, retorted in their first Diet debate in late May that
Yukio is merely calling for a change of government and failed to present
specific ideas or policies of his own.
The grandfathers of Aso and the Hatoyama brothers were political foes in the
immediate postwar period.
Yukio and Kunio used to belong to the LDP. Both left the party in 1993 and
later formed the DPJ together, but Kunio left the DPJ in 1999 to run
unsuccessfully in the Tokyo gubernatorial election. The brothers also failed to
form a consensus on the party's policies.
Since Kunio rejoined the LDP in 2000, the brothers have often been at
loggerheads. Kunio has been close to Aso and had taken the lead in campaigning
for him in the LDP leadership election.
The two brothers have become closer than before, but Kunio can sometimes be
harsh toward his brother. After the Diet debate, he said Yukio was just a
''puppet'' of Ozawa, his influential predecessor.
==Kyodo