In response to the PNP's request, the document calls for passing legislation to freeze the sale of shares in Japan Post Holdings Co., and two group companies, Japan Post Bank Co. and Japan Post Insurance Co.

But the compromises made by the three parties do not necessarily mean they were all satisfied with the solution.

Analysts say that the disparities in their respective policies will almost surely led to further dispute over specific issues in the future.

"This agreement is like an attempt to mix oil and water," political analyst Hideaki Kase was quoted by The Japan Times as saying.

"A conflict of interest is highly likely to take place under such a fragile partnership," he added.

Japan-US ties at risk? 

It will be a diplomatic move of special importance for Hatoyama to make his international debut as the new prime minister later this month in Pittsburgh at the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit and discuss Japan's new policies with US President Barack Obama.

And it is widely believed that the point of departure for DPJ's foreign policy should be its bonds with the United States. However, speculation that Hatoyama will steer Japan on a solo course away from America is rampant in the US media. An Op-Ed essay of his in The New York Times and other outlets, in which Hatoyama predicted that American's global dominance and the era of US-Style capitalism were coming to an end, may have been what set off the rumor mill.

Sounding warning bells in Washington are also the DPJ's vow to build an "equal" relationship with the United States and its agreement with the two allies to present to the United States a review of the planned realignment of the US forces in Japan and an amendment of the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement as well as its leftist ally the SDP's firm stand on the issues such as the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean and the "so-called Okinawa issue."

And the DPJ is likely to generate more tension with the United States. In particular, the DPJ "will expose the secret agreement that allows the US to routinely violate the three non-nuclear principles", according to Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University, in an interview with Xinhua.

Revealing the documents is unlikely to have disastrous consequences, but it will mark a change in the way Japan deals with its ally.

In this sense, how to reassure the Americans during his talks with President Obama and maintain stable relations with the United States will be a task that falls to Hatoyama's new coalition administration.

A short-lived partnership?

The DPJ's urge for a tripartite coalition is principally to control the upper house so that smooth legislation will be ensured. As an upper house election is to take place in July 2010, the coalition may prove to be a temporary framework, and Hatoyama's efforts to find common ground with its two allies will be brief.

The DPJ will very readily discard its partners if it secures a majority in the election next summer.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2009)