TOKYO -- Days after being formally elected Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama hit the diplomatic ground running, traveling to New York last week to deliver a speech at the U.N. meet on climate change, before heading to Pittsburgh for the G-20 summit.
The trip was widely viewed as a success, with Reuters saying Hatoyama handled his diplomatic debut with "aplomb." The Japan Times praised his "strong" start, particularly his pledge to slash Japan's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent on 1990 levels.
The headline-grabbing promise on emissions is just the latest sign, according to veteran Japan commentator Karel van Wolferen, that the Democratic Party of Japan leader will offer a break with the foreign policy of the ousted Liberal Democratic Party, which held power virtually uninterrupted for more than 50 years.