[/floatl]Kyodo: Japan displeased by U.S. newspaper column calling Hatoyama 'loopy'Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano expressed displeasure Thursday with a Washington Post column that called Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama "increasingly loopy," saying it lacked due courtesy to a national leader. In a column in Wednesday's edition of the major U.S. daily, Al Kamen wrote that "by far the biggest loser" at the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington earlier this week was "the hapless and (in the opinion of some Obama administration officials) increasingly loopy" Hatoyama. The columnist said Hatoyama reportedly could not have a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, despite requesting one, on the sidelines of the major event. The roughly 10-minute informal talks Hatoyama and Obama held during a working dinner were "the only consolation prize" the prime minister got, he said. "The column used an expression that was somewhat discourteous to a country's prime minister," Hirano said at a news conference, adding that the two leaders' conversation over dinner still provided "a meaningful opportunity" even if it was short. Kamen also wrote that Hatoyama has come off to Obama administration officials as unreliable over the future of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, a major sticking point between the two countries. Arguing that the Japanese government has yet to propose an alternative plan for Futemma's relocation, the columnist said, "Uh, Yukio, you're supposed to be an ally, remember? Saved you countless billions with that expensive U.S. nuclear umbrella?"
