Japan's premier under pressure

Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama has announced a visit to Okinawa island to try and resolve the conflict over a US military base there. Hatoyama plans to travel to the southern region next Tuesday, where almost 100,000 people demonstrated against the US presence last week. The US has offered to move the base from Futenma to a different location in Okinawa, but many people there are demanding a complete US pullout.

Hatoyama is expected to present a compromise solution. He had promised to resolve the dispute by the end of May, and if he cannot meet this deadline, many believe that his credibility will be seriously damaged ahead of the important upper house elections due to take place this summer.

The Ozawa factor

Hatoyama had come to power last year, ending the decades-long rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a historic election victory. But his popularity has fallen quite low, according to opinion polls. An important reason is a funding scandal involving party heavyweight and General-Secretary Ichiro Ozawa, who is widely credited with the election victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

Although a judicial review panel has ruled that Ozawa should be indicted, Hatoyama has said he can stay in his post for the time being.

EU-Japan summit overshadowed

Hatoyama's problems and the EU's own troubles with Greece have meanwhile completely overshadowed an important EU-Japan summit in Tokyo. EU President Herman Van Rompuy, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held talks with the Japanese government there on Thursday.

The summit agreed on more cooperation in Afghanistan and closer coordination of efforts to combat Somali pirates, but failed to produce a breakthrough on a free-trade agreement. A rather vague "high-level group" is to be formed to discuss the further development of economic ties. Trade volume between the EU and Japan has declined for the last decade.

Author: tb/AFP/Reuters/AP
Editor: Grahame Lucas