Dispute slows Japan coalition talks
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Japan's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama
TOKYO — Japan's incoming prime minister said Tuesday he was confident coalition talks on forming a new government would be complete within the day, despite differences on defence and history.
"I think we'll reach an agreement," Yukio Hatoyama told reporters, a day after he was forced to postpone an announcement of key cabinet appointments after ideological clashes with prospective junior coalition partners.
Fuji Television reported that Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and its partners -- the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the People's New Party (PNP) -- said they were readying for an agreement by Tuesday afternoon.
Hatoyama is set to take over on September 16 from Prime Minister Taro Aso after the DPJ defeated his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an August 30 election, ending its more than half-century of almost unbroken rule.
Aso said Tuesday he would resign as LDP president just before the opening of the parliamentary session Wednesday next week, when he would also step down as premier and his cabinet would resign en masse, party officials said.
The DPJ, which has never been in government, needs the support of the two smaller parties in the upper house, the chamber which can block or stall legislation, despite its large incoming majority in the lower house.