Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 481, The Dynasty, Part 4.

There's one quote that, more than anything else, I think, sums up well the relationship

between the third generation leader of the Hatoyama family, Hatoyama Ichiro, and politics,

which was, of course, by this time, the family business.

I found this particular little story in Ito Mayumi's fascinating book, the Hatoyama

dynasty, fascinating primarily because, frankly, a good chunk of what Ito writes is simply

trying to pump up the Hatoyama family's reputation, which makes the inclusion of this little

story all the more fascinating.

Hatoyama Ichiro would have himself two sons, Hatoyama Yukio, born in 1947, and Hatoyama

Kunio, born in 48.

When his younger son, Kunio said he wanted to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and go into politics,

Yukio would eventually do the same, but later in life, apparently their father could not hold himself back from a harsh reply.

Supposedly he tried to forbid Cunio from pursuing politics and said to him,

quote, if you want to go into politics,

you must be a bad person.

Cunio, somewhat nonplussed, replied, then my grandfather must have been a very bad person,

a fair observation, given that Hata Yichiro had not only gone into politics, but been successful

enough at it to help found the LDP and become

Japan's prime minister.

Hatoyama Ichiro's response to this slander of his own father was a cool, didn't you already

know that?

Now there is, as they say, a lot to unpack here, but I think it serves as a very good introduction

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