Two brothers from rival sides of Japan's political arena are helping to undermine Prime Minister Taro Aso's election hopes, with one leading a resurgent opposition and the other rocking the cabinet by resigning. But the tale of Yukio and Kunio Hatoyama, who like Aso are the rich grandsons of a former premier, could also put off voters by reinforcing an image of politics as a closed and cosy world. “There could be an impression that politics is out of touch with the public,” said Yasunori Sone, a professor at Tokyo's Keio University. “It looks like a fight among noble families.” Aso, 68, has been the biggest loser in the latest political fuss in the run-up to an election many expect in August. Polls published on Tuesday showed that the dispute with close ally Kunio Hatoyama, who quit as internal affairs minister last week after a highly public feud with the premier, has eroded support for Aso ahead of the election. They also showed the opposition Democratic Party led by Kunio's elder brother, Yukio, had kept or widened its lead over Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), boosting prospects of an end to the LDP's more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule. Kunio stepped down after a row lasting several weeks, when Aso rejected his decision to fire the head of state-owned Japan Post over controversial property deals. “Both Kunio and Yukio made Aso look bad, but in completely different ways,” said Chuo University professor Steven Reed. “Kunio was Aso's main buddy ... but he put (the prime minister's) indecisiveness on public display.” Less unappealing? Yukio, for his part, helped revive the opposition's chances in the election when he took over as Democratic Party leader in May after his predecessor, Ichiro Ozawa, stepped down to limit fallout from a fundraising scandal. Yukio Hatoyama regularly outpolls Aso when voters are asked which party chief they prefer as the next prime minister, although polls show many voters are unimpressed with either. “He made Aso look bad by being a more appealing alternative to Ozawa,” Reed said. “The main thing he did was put things back on track to where they were before the scandal.” Scandals are a familiar wild card in Japanese politics. Japanese media are now speculating that opposition lawmakers were involved in a scandal over abuse of postal discounts for welfare groups. This could dampen the Democrats' rise just as Yukio looks to have his best shot at following in his grandfather's footsteps as premier. The Hatoyama brothers have long had a complex relationship. Yukio, 62, and Kunio, 60, hail from a wealthy political family and began their careers as lawmakers in the LDP, which their grandfather Ichiro helped to found. Both bolted the LDP 16 years ago as part of a rebellion that helped to briefly oust it. But the brothers parted political ways when Kunio left the Democratic Party in 1999 for a failed bid to become governor of Tokyo. He returned to the LDP the next year and played a key role in Aso's rise to the nation's top job last September. Yukio led the Democrats for three years from 1999, during which time some criticized him as being too soft and indecisive. Cynics said Kunio, dubbed the Grim Reaper by a newspaper for the speed with which he signed off on death sentences as justice minister, might be hoping the battle over Japan Post would raise his profile ahead of a tough election. Japanese media have suggested he wants either to replace the unpopular Aso if the LDP dumps him, or to form a new party that could later link up with his brother's Democrats. Last year the brothers set up a political academy to promote their grandfather's philosophy of “yuai”, or fraternity, a concept Yukio has said refers to a society where solutions to social problems would be found through community volunteerism. But a weak political base makes Kunio an unlikely candidate either to succeed Aso or form a strong party, Keio's Sone said. “People think something might happen because they are brothers, but Yukio is the leader of the opposition,” he said. “For Kunio now, it's a matter of how to survive.”
