Hatoyama to take oath as Japan's PM

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The final countdown has started for Japan's next Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama. The Parliament will formally vote him in on Wednesday.

Hatoyama is the son of a wealthy family, with a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University. He left the Liberal Democratic Party in 1993 and helped establish the Democratic Party of Japan five years later.

Last month's DPJ landslide victory ousted Taro Aso's LDP, which had dominated for more than half a century. Hatoyama ran on promises to wrest power from bureaucrats to cut wasteful spending and rebuild faith in the creaking national pension system.