Yukio Hatoyama, Ph.D.

Yukio Hatoyama, Ph.D., was Prime Minister of Japan from 2009 to 2010. He served in the Japanese House of Representatives for more than 25 years and co-founded with his brother the Democratic Party of Japan in 1996, serving as its chair and secretary-general until he led it to victory in the 2009 elections.

Dr. Hatoyama comes from a very prominent Japanese family that includes four generations of leading politicians and educators. His great-grandfather was speaker of the House of Representatives in the Imperial Diet in the 1890s and the president of Waseda University, and his great-grandmother founded Kiyoritsu Women’s University. His paternal grandfather founded both the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, and served as Prime Minister of Japan in 1954–56. His maternal grandfather founded Bridgestone Corporation, the global tire manufacturer. His father was Japan’s foreign minister, and his brother was Japan’s minister of internal affairs and communication.

Dr. Hatoyama’s long list of accomplishments as Prime Minister include significant reductions of wasteful government spending and advances and increased funding to improve education, family life, healthcare, and housing. He substantially improved relations with other East Asian nations, notably China, and worked to create a more equitable and transparent relationship with the U.S. After stepping down as Prime Minister, he continued to serve in the House of Representatives for another two years and took a principled stand against the restarting of Japanese nuclear reactors.

In 2006, Time magazine named Dr. Hatoyama the sixth most influential person in the world in its annual “Time 100” issue. Among his many other awards, Dr. Hatoyama received the Sustainable Development Leadership Award of the 2010 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit for “his effort to confront climate change and leading his government to make it a main issue.”

Dr. Hatoyama holds a Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University, USA, and is a past professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Senshū University. He is currently honorary chairman and a senior consultant of Hoifu Energy Group Limited.