- Title: JAPAN: New first lady says her soul rode a UFO to Venus
- Date: 5th September 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (SEPTEMBER 04, 2009) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN THE STREETS OF TOKYO (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) KAZUMOTO KAWADA, 68-YEAR-OLD RETIREE, SAYING: "She's fun and she acts like she's from outer space and that's definitely a rare character for a first lady." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YOSHIKO KARIMAI, 50-YEAR-OLD HOUSEWIFE, SAYING: "All the previous first ladies we had in Japan were rather plain and boring so it's great that she has her own personality." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TAKASHI SHIRAI, 43-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN, SAYING: "I think she can vitalise Japan with her cheerful personality. I'm actually looking forward to what she can do as Japan's first lady."
- Embargoed: 20th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1I2OHQ8BF9CY2JRHCLO8LNLMR
- Story Text: Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, may be nicknamed "the alien," but his wife, Miyuki, claims her own "E.T." experience.
Hatoyama embraces his moniker, given for his prominent eyes, while Miyuki in a book last year said she was abducted while asleep 20 years ago, riding on a triangular-shaped UFO to Venus.
In the book, she wrote: "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus."
Describing the nearby planet as beautiful and green, the 66-year-old former actress gave the extra-terrestrial lowdown in the book, "Very Strange Things I've Encountered."
Yukio, who likely will become premier on Sept. 16, met his wife while studying at Stanford University in the U.S., where Miyuki spent close to 10 years -- on earth.
She was married to another Japanese man at the time, but filed for divorce and married Yukio in 1975.
She has actively participated in her husband's political campaign, travelling with him across the country.
On Sunday, when the Democratic Party won Japan's elections by a landslide, the future first lady of Japan says the sunset that day meant victory.
"When I saw the sunset, it was a brilliant red. The minute I saw it, I realised that history had changed," Miyuki told her husband's supporters at his office in the northern island of Hokkaido on August 31.
She also gave a huge shout out to the crowd with a big "Thank you!"
On a daytime talk show earlier this year, Miyuki told viewers about her friendship with Tom Cruise in a past life and a desire now to make a movie with him.
Yukio, on the other hand, called himself an "alien" making posters and even business cards with an alien cartoon trademark.
But rather than fear the New Age wife, Japanese say she's a breath of fresh air compared to other first spouses.
"She's fun and she acts like she's from outer space and that's definitely a rare characteristic for a first lady," Kazumoto Kawada, 68-year-old retiree, told Reuters in Tokyo.
Many Japanese women also welcomed Miyuki's personality saying it is time for a new change.
"All the previous first ladies we had in Japan were rather plain and boring so it's great that she has her own personality," said Yoshiko Karimai, 50, a housewife in Tokyo.
Others said they are looking forward to Miyuki playing a prominent role in Japan.
"I think she can vitalise Japan with her cheerful personality. I'm actually looking forward to what she can do as Japan's first lady," Takashi Shirai, 43-year-old businessman, told Reuters.
Author of several works including a macrobiotic cookbook, Miyuki is also Yukio's fashion muse, keeping "the alien" grounded but also very human.
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