Anti-American ?
The dubious manoeuvres leading up to the resignation of the Yoshida Government now appear as an instance of the control exercised over Japanese politics by reactionary groups which operate far from public life. It now seems that these forces (including the notorious Zaibatsu industrial combines) have decided that Mr. Yoshida is not the man to lead the Japanese right wing at the next elections. Instead they have put their money on Ichiro Hatoyama, the leader of the new Japan Democratic Party, the founder of the Liberal Party, and the first post-war Prime Minister, who was purged from political life by General MacArthur a few hours after winning the first post-war elections. The reasons for this switch remain obscure, but it is probable that Mr. Hatoyama's anti-American past recommended him as a likely candidate in a country where resurgent nationalism .has been stimulated by the memory of Hiroshima and the more recent atomic tests in the Pacific area. It is evident, too, that Mr. Yoshida's support for a pro-American foreign policy would have been an obstacle to that rapproche- ment with China and Russia which is increasingly felt to be the only real solution to Japan's economic problems. The first action of the new Foreign Minister was to say that Japan was willing to restore normal relations with the Soviet Union and Communist China.' On this point the extreme left and right are united, which possibly explains Socialist support for the Hatoyama Government.
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