Japan's Hatoyama sweeps to power

Japan's next leader, Yukio Hatoyama, is beginning a transition to power after winning a landmark general election. Exit polls show his Democratic Party of Japan overwhelmingly defeated the Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed almost unbroken since 1955. PM Taro Aso has conceded defeat and said he would resign as LDP head. Media forecasts give the DPJ 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house to the LDP's 119, almost an exact reversal of their previous standing. Japan's Nikkei stock market index jumped to an 11-month high in early trading as the scale of the DPJ's victory became clear, but the rise of the yen and Chinese stock falls led to an overall fall of 0.3%. Official results are still to be released. Mr Hatoyama, the wealthy heir to an industrial and political dynasty, is expected to announce a transition team later in the day. He is expected to be confirmed as prime minister when parliament meets in about two weeks. His Cabinet is expected to be in place by then, and his party is also in coalition talks with two smaller opposition parties whose support it needs in the upper house. "It's taken a long time, but we have at last reached the starting line," Mr Hatoyama told a news conference at his home in Tokyo on Monday. "This is by no means the destination. At long last we are able to move politics, to create a new kind of politics that will fulfil the expectations of the people." Mr Aso said he would step down as LDP leader - his successor is expected to be named in September. "I have no plan to run for re-election," he said, quoted by the Associated Press. "The most important thing is rejuvenating our party." Kotaro Tamura, another LDP lawmaker, said: "We made too many mistakes. Very crucial mistakes... we changed prime minister three times without holding an election."