Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who ended five decades of single-party rule when he swept to power in August but stumbled when he confronted the country's longtime ally, the United States, resigned Wednesday.

Hatoyama quit at a meeting of leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan, becoming the fourth straight Japanese leader to leave after a year or less in office.

"Since last year's elections, I tried to change politics in which the people of Japan would be the main characters," he said later Wednesday at a nationally broadcast news conference. But he conceded that his efforts weren't understood. "That's mainly because of my failings," he said.

majorspark;376392 wrote:Politicians campaigning for office say and promise many things to get elected. When they win office and are confronted with the facts and intelligence that political power brings them they often are brought to reality. The reality in Japan is that as long as the US is subsidizing their defense, we have a strong say in the matter. Until Japan is willing to elect a politician with the balls to stand up to the US and thus assume their sovereign power of self defense over their land on their own, they will to some degree be subject to our will.