6th October 2009

Dear Sir/Madam,

Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, the new Prime Minister of Japan, made his foreign policy speech as his message from the “new Japan”, at the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on 24 September.

In his statement, he recalled the time when Japan acceded to the United Nations on 18 December 1956. The Prime Minister at the time was Ichiro Hatoyama, our new Prime Minister’s very own grandfather. The Japanese representative, then Foreign Minister of Japan, Mr. Shigemitsu stated that “Japan may well be regarded as a bridge between the East and the West. She is fully conscious of the great responsibilities of such a position”.

Now, 53 years later, Mr. Hatoyama said “My grandfather Ichiro, then Prime Minister, was an advocate of the concept of yu-ai, or ‘fraternity’. This yu-ai is a way of thinking that respects one’s own freedom and individual dignity while also respecting the freedom and individual dignity of others. There is remarkable resonance between the concept of the ‘bridge’ in Shigemitsu’s address and Ichiro’s concept of yu-ai, or ‘fraternity’, and here at the very same United Nations General Assembly, I declare with firm determination that Japan will play again the role of a ‘bridge’...... between the Orient and the Occident, between developed and developing countries and between diverse civilizations”.

In its commitment to serve as this “bridge”, Prime Minister Hatoyama has identified five challenges Japan intends to take on, which are (1) the global economic crisis; (2) climate change issue; (3) nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, which is further expanded in a speech made at the recent UN Security Council Summit.

The fourth challenge revolves around the issues of peacebuilding, development and poverty in which Japan will continue to work in partnership with international organizations and NGOs and strengthen its assistance to developing countries.

The fifth challenge is that of building an East Asian community. Prime Minister Hatoyama stated in his speech that “Today, there is no way that Japan can develop without deeply involving itself in the Asia and the Pacific region. Given the historical circumstances arising from its mistaken actions in the past, Japan has hesitated to play a proactive role in this region. It is my hope that the new Japan can overcome this history and become a ‘bridge’ among the countries of Asia”.

Please find the address delivered by H.E. Dr. Yukio Hatoyama at the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, as well as the statement he made at the UN Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament for your perusal.