“I Wish Japan Were Iran”: Ex-PM Hatoyama’s Provocative Call to Ditch U.S. Bases

According to Saed News, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama delivered a startling critique of Japan’s security pact with the United States in a video released Tuesday. “We must create a Japan without U.S. military bases,” Hatoyama declared, invoking Iran’s recent strike-and-response cycle as proof that American installations can transform host nations into targets.

Hatoyama’s remarks referenced the June strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities by U.S. forces and Tehrān’s subsequent retaliation, suggesting that Japan’s reliance on U.S. bases not only compromises its autonomy but also invites strategic vulnerability. “If an emergency arises over Taiwan,” he warned, “U.S. jets stationed in Japan could be dispatched to the conflict zone, thereby rendering our own soil—and its bases—fair game for adversaries.”

The veteran politician, whose administration from 2009 to 2010 saw attempts at recalibrating U.S.–Japan ties, argued that the continued presence of American forces effectively undermines Japan’s constitutional commitment to peace. By equating Iran’s defensive response with Japan’s potential predicament, Hatoyama sought to reframe the debate over the U.S.–Japan security alliance, long regarded as the bedrock of East Asian stability.

While his proposal is unlikely to gain traction in Tokyo’s mainstream political circles—where the alliance enjoys broad bipartisan support—it resonates with a growing segment of Japanese citizens uneasy about being drawn into great‑power conflicts. Hatoyama’s intervention revives an old question: can Japan maintain deterrence and regional influence without hosting foreign military bases? As Tokyo grapples with both Chinese expansionism and North Korean provocations, his vision for a base‑free Japan confronts entrenched strategic orthodoxies head‑on.