By YUKA HAYASHI
TOKYO — Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama came under renewed pressure Wednesday as a senior lawmaker from his ruling party publicly called for his resignation if he fails to resolve a dispute over U.S. military bases in Okinawa before his self-imposed May deadline.
Kozo Watanabe, an influential elder of the Democratic Party of Japan, said Finance Minister Naoto Kan was the natural candidate to succeed Mr. Hatoyama if he were to step down. He added that Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada is a "hard-working and earnest politician" who enjoys strong voter support, but that his direct involvement in the Okinawa issue in his current capacity would make him an unsuitable candidate.
Mr. Watanabe stressed, however, that he hoped Mr. Hatoyama would find a solution to the relocation of the U.S. military facilities from the Futenma air station, so that the prime minister could serve a full four-year term. "I really hope Mr. Hatoyama will resolve the Okinawa issue with his own hands," he said at a news conference.
Despite a 2006 bilateral agreement with Washington to move the facilities from Futenma to a less crowded location within Okinawa, the DPJ promised voters last year the move would be to facilities outside of Okinawa and possibly outside of Japan.
The U.S., meanwhile, has insisted on sticking to the agreement, although last week State Department officials said they would listen to alternatives.
Mr. Watanabe didn't say how he thought the base problem should be resolved, but he called it the most difficult issue facing the Japanese government, and acknowledged the prime minister's limited options. "It was a mistake to include the promise to move the facility outside of Japan in the campaign platform before the elections," Mr. Watanabe said.
Mr. Hatoyama's aides didn't immediately respond to written questions Wednesday. Earlier this week, faced with similar criticism from outside his party, Mr. Hatoyama vowed to "fight with all my might and everything I have to deliver a successful result" on the Okinawa issue by the end of May.
Six months after the DPJ ousted a long-serving conservative party and took power, Mr. Hatoyama faces attacks from inside and outside his center-left party for problems that also include criticism of his economic policies, mixed messages from his administration and scrutiny of his campaign fund-raising practices. Experts say the Okinawa base issue in particular could deal a critical blow to his administration, as he has repeatedly flip-flopped on his position and created tension in Tokyo's relationship with Washington.
Mr. Watanabe didn't mention any other challenges facing the prime minister, but he said: "People's trust in the prime minister has eroded. There have been situations where he said to turn right in the morning, turn left in the afternoon and turn right again in the evening."
A poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper published Monday showed support for Mr. Hatoyama's cabinet fell to 33% from 41% a month ago and from 75% at the time of his inauguration.
Mr. Watanabe, 77 years old, has held various ministerial positions and served as a top party official until recently. He urged DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa to step down as party president this past June on worries that public scrutiny of Mr. Ozawa's political fund-raising would hurt the party's chance of winning the national elections in August. The party went on to win a landslide victory.
Mr. Hatoyama appears increasingly entrenched over the Okinawa issue. Some had hoped the issue would be resolved at top-level meetings between the two nations in coming weeks. But the Japanese media reported Wednesday that Mr. Ozawa and his parliamentary mission wouldn't visit Washington later this month, despite an earlier invitation from the U.S.
Mr. Hatoyama is visiting Washington next week to attend a nuclear-security summit but he isn't among the handful of national leaders President Barack Obama is meeting in bilateral sessions, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Press representatives for the DPJ and the foreign ministry said no final decisions have been made regarding those visits.
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