The election marked the first time in Japanese post-war history that voters delivered the control of the government to the opposition.

The DPJ won more than 300 House of Representatives seats in the election and inflicted the worst defeat for a sitting government in modern Japanese history to the LDP.

The government became more unpopular after it broke a campaign promise of closing down an American air base in Okinawa Prefecture.

During his short premiership, Hatoyama managed to pass a relatively significant amount of progressive reforms, including the introduction of new social benefits for families, a marked increase in the education budget, the abolition of public high school tuition fees and welfare expansion.

[5][6] Japan also developed a more Asia-focused policy and a warmer relations with China under Hatoyama, culminated with a visit by then-Vice President Xi Jinping to Tokyo in January 2010.