.::Prime Minister of Japan Tells Nation He Plans to Q::.

TOKYO – Yukio Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party ended a half-century of almost uninterrupted single-party rule in Japan, said Wednesday he would resign to take responsibility for failing to keep his promise to move an American air base off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

Mr. Hatoyama came to power in August on landmark elections that cast the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power. He had promised to bring sweeping changes to Japan’s postwar order by redefining Tokyo’s relationship with Washington and refocusing the nation’s economy away from corporations toward households.

But public support for Mr. Hatoyama slumped after he reneged on a promise to relocate a contentious United States air base off Okinawa. An alleged campaign financing scandal linked to his top lieutenant, Ichiro Ozawa, the Democratic Party Secretary General, has also mired his administration.

Mr. Hatoyama said Mr. Ozawa, known as the party’s main powerbroker, would also step down.
“I will be standing down, but it is also true that there was much debate over Secretary-General Ozawa’s role,” Mr. Hatoyama told a meeting of Democratic party lawmakers, broadcast on national TV. “To revive the Democratic Party, let us return to a party that is thoroughly clean.”

“I am so thankful that you allowed me to take helm of the country for eight months,” Mr. Hatoyama said. “That is my message to the nation.”

Mr. Hatoyama had been dealt a fresh blow in recent days after a small leftist party in Japan resigned from his governing coalition on Sunday over his handing of the American base. The Social Democratic Party dropped out of the three-party coalition, saying that the prime minister had turned his back on the Okinawans, who were outraged by his decision to keep the base on their island.

The Democrats face nationwide elections for Parliament’s upper house this summer, and there had been increasing calls from within the party to replace the unpopular Mr. Hatoyama to boost its chances at the polls.

M. Amedeo Tumolillo contributed reporting from New York City.