Meet new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, also known as "the alien."
It could be his unique use of words, his unreadable character, his physical features or all of the above, but the nickname has stuck and the new leader seems happy with it.
In his book "Seicho no Genkai ni Manabu" ("Learning from the Limits of Growth") published by Shogakukan Inc. in 2000, Hatoyama said he was happy to be called an alien.