December 27, 2009Yasuko Hatoyama, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's mother, has been dropped into the public eye after an investigation revealed that she provided a total of 1.26 billion yen to fund her son's political career, with his former state-paid secretary indicted for falsifying political donation reports.
Yasuko, 87, was born in 1922 as the first daughter of Shojiro Ishibashi, the founder of the world's top tire manufacturer Bridgestone Corp. It is believed that she inherited 15.2 billion yen worth of assets when her husband and former Foreign Minister Iichiro Hatoyama died in 1993.
According to "Tsuiso Hatoyama Iichiro," a biography published in 1996, Yasuko married Iichiro in November 1942 after graduating from what is now Gakushuin Girls' Senior High School. Their first daughter was born in September 1943.
Iichiro went into the world of politics in 1974, and soon became foreign minister in the Takeo Fukuda administration in December 1976. Yasuko confessed, however, that Iichiro's career success put a lot of stress on her.
In 1947 and 1948, two sons, Yukio Hatoyama and House of Representatives member Kunio Hatoyama, were born to the family. While her husband was busy with official functions and politics, Yasuko brought up the two brothers, and both entered the University of Tokyo.
When Yukio was torn between his future academic options, Yasuko arranged a meeting for her timid son to talk to his father. She also supported Kunio when he decided to run in a national election, despite his father's strong opposition.
And, of course, it was her too who provided an enormous amount of money to the brothers.
Shinichi Sano, an author of "Hatoyama Ichizoku Sono Kinmyaku to Jinmyaku (the Hatoyamas' money and network), interviewed Yasuko in 1996, around the time when Yukio formed the Democratic Party of Japan.
"She told me that she didn't want her sons to become a prime minister, but also expressed her concern that the brothers would not be able to realize their ideals unless they were with the ruling party," Sano recalls. "Her expression of 'realizing their ideals' betrayed her desire to produce another prime minister from the Hatoyama family."
According to Sano, Yasuko's voice was so small and weak that he could hardly hear what she was saying from time to time.
"People often call her a Godmother, but I have a different impression of her. I thought she was like a branch of willow. It is flexible but never breaks."
Yasuko reportedly said that she hates indecisive politicians. It may make people wonder how she's looking at her own son Yukio, who had claimed that he "didn't know anything" about the misconduct by his aide.
(Mainichi Japan) December 27, 2009
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