His style is consensus-building, his decision-making less unilateral and impetuous than Kan or, particularly, Hatoyama.
It is time for more fiscally astute members of Mr Hatoyama's government to set the agenda.
Hatoyama and Kan are both 49, and most others range between 27 and 55.
Perhaps the wavy-locked Mr Hatoyama was not Samson to Mr Ozawa's temple after all.
They show a man who looks like Hatoyama, the opposition leader, wooing a woman.
"Hatoyama has brought into question the competence of the entire party, " one TV commentator said.
If Mr Ozawa focuses on these jobs, then Mr Hatoyama can get on with his.
At the end of May Mr Hatoyama may propose a modified version of the original plan.
However inept Hatoyama's performance as prime minister, many observers say his administration was needlessly undercut by Washington.
Mr Hatoyama's administration, meanwhile, should stop pestering the BoJ about deflation and face up to its own responsibilities.
Mr Hatoyama's government, in office since September, has so far failed to spell out clearly its economic policies.
"I was very disappointed, " said Masahiro Ueda, 38, who works for a software company, of Hatoyama's failure to deliver.
Many locals resent the American bases, so they welcomed Mr Hatoyama's pledge to reduce the burden on the island.
His brief, says Mr Hatoyama, is to oversee the 2010 election for the upper house of the Diet (parliament).
Along with a flair for airy-fairy waffle, Mr Hatoyama has exhibited breathtaking indecision.
Instead, Mr Hatoyama has passed the matter to the Diet, where members will look out for their own districts.
Former Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama is also in Beijing on a private visit.
But Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama quickly rebuked him for being "loose-tongued, " and reaffirmed that the ban would remain in place.
Now his successor, Mr Hatoyama, has made Mr Ozawa the DPJ's secretary-general, a powerful party post but outside the government.
"I think the No. 1 priority for a Hatoyama government is just going to be getting used to governing, " Szechenyi says.
National parliamentary elections will be held in July, and for many Japanese, Hatoyama's fall has tainted every member of his party.
Magosaki is plainly of the latter camp, in which he also identifies prime ministers Tanaka Kakue, Miyazawa Koichi, and Hatoyama Yukio.
The huge task of creating it falls to Yukio Hatoyama, whom the Diet will appoint as prime minister on September 16th.
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Hatoyama earned plaudits at home, but trouble in Washington, when he expressed a preference for moving the base out of Japan.
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Yukio Hatoyama resigned in 2010 over a failure to fulfil campaign promises.
The Hatoyama administration has barely begun to consider how to prolong the recovery, let alone pay down debt in the long run.
But Mr Koizumi's extraordinary popularity has thrown Mr Hatoyama's plans into disarray.
Less than six months later, an electoral defeat in the same city has shown how quickly Yukio Hatoyama's government has dimmed those hopes.
Even with a decisive win Sunday, it remains to be seen whether Hatoyama can bring the kind of change his party is promising.
Mr Hatoyama prevaricates over fiscal reform, arguing that Japan should wait until the next general election in 2013 before shaking up the tax system.
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