177. Olaf Scholz: Putin, Power, and Far-Right Populism
23 February 2026
First ladies watch out for Japanese bombshell
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Post
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3 September 2009
Litttle did I know, blogging a few days ago on the potential significance of a change of government in Japan, that the new Prime Minister would be bringing with him a wife who was once abducted by aliens.
Not only that, but it seems she knew Tom Cruise in a previous life (she says he was Japanese at the time) and she hopes to make a film with him in the future.
Let us be honest - we are used to Japanese Prime Ministers being invisible, let alone their spouses, yet in Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of incoming PM Yukio, we have someone who, were she British, would fill more column inches than Cherie, Sarah, Carla and Michelle combined.
So what else to tell you? She is described as a 'lifestyle guru.' So was Carole Caplin. But Mrs Hatoyama is the consort not the friend. 'Lifestyle guru' brings to mind the time Tory MP Nick Soames called me to say if he was called at Prime Minister's Questions he intended to ask TB 'what is a lifestyle guru and do I need one?' Sadly, he wasn't called.
Mrs Hatoyama has written cookery books, been a dancer and an actresss, is a divorcee, loves wearing her own clothes, including a dress she made from coffee sacks. But it is the abduction by aliens - they took her to Venus in a UFO, she has written in a book - that takes her into a league of her own. She was married to someone else then, and he told her it was a dream. She suggests her current husband - the PM - would have taken her journey at face value.
In any event, Mr Hatoyama's first international summit promises to be quite a gas. I hope Sarah will twitter regularly. I hope Carla will sing.
As for Cherie, I was always a bit wary of Carole and all that New Age stuff. She always said I over-reacted. How the Japanese government spin doctors handle Mrs Hatoyama - bear in mind one of his central pledges is to curb the power of bureaucrats - could make for an interesting sideshow.
** I am grateful to The Independent, which I picked up in the Eurostar terminal, for the above information. The other stand-out article was about John Prescott, and his planned tour of schools to highlight the need for greater action on climate change. The man is indefatigable.
JP is a true asset to the Labour Party.
‘Mrs Hatoyama has written cookery books, been a dancer and an actresss, is a divorcee, loves wearing her own clothes’
So she and I have at least one thing in common – I love wearing my own clothes, as well; I didn’t realise this was so unusual, do Labourites have a communal wardrobe? This may explain why Prezza always looks so rumpled – last up, worst dressed?
JP is indeed similar to HMS Indefatigable, one of the Battlecruisers blown up at Jutland. A Battlecruiser typically had the same size Guns as a Battleship, but, in order to obtain more speed, much thinner armour.
They could dish it out, but they couldn’t take it !
JP in schools? Fantastic! As someone from the teaching profession, I know that children understand and get a message better from people who tell it like it is, seem to be genuine, and engage them with questions – which I am sure JP will do. Other politicians who speak with a rhetoric of old that veils things – they won’t be interested in at all!
Looking at your diaries, Caplin was never going to win you over. She’s just the kind of person who rubs you the wrong way. As far as Miyuki goes, I’ll never cease to be baffled by intelligent and powerful men who marry the silliest of women.
** Where would Labour be without JP?
We are the company we keep.
Is this the same JP who is flying to China this week to deliver a lecture on global warming? Great idea jetting halfway round the world and back to talk about the need to cut carbon emissions….has he not heard of teleconferencing…Is this the same JP who “pretended” to take a train after giving a speech on Public Transport?
This man has no credibility just like most of his colleagues, though i was impressed by Ed Milliband who replied to my tweet when I criticised him on climate change..