As Japan's new premier Yukio Hatoyama prepares to make his mark on the world stage, his wife is already grabbing global headlines with tales of an extraterrestrial adventure and meeting Tom Cruise in a past life.
Japan's new first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, is an unabashedly eccentric former actress with an interest in spirituality and who talks fondly about her soul visiting Venus on a triangular spaceship.
With her trademark shoulder-length bob and cheerful personality, the 66-year-old (who is four years older than her husband) looks set to liven up the traditionally staid role of a premier's wife.
She was born in Shanghai in 1943, when the Chinese city was under Japanese occupation, and grew up in Kobe in western Japan.
In the 1960s, she was an actress with the all-female Takarazuka Revue - which has a cult following in Japan - and later went to the United States in her mid-20s after quitting her stage career.
This showbiz background is a first for Japan, whose previous first ladies generally came from respected political families.
She also talked about her trip to the planet Venus in a book published last year that compiled 'amazing events' experienced by well-known figures in Japan.
'I can't prove it, but some 20 years ago, I believe my soul rode on a triangular UFO and went to Venus while my body was asleep. It was a very beautiful place and very green,' she said.
Her remarks have been splashed across newspapers as far afield as India, Israel, Britain and the US.
Dubbed 'Mrs Occult' by Time magazine, she also said recently on a TV talkshow that she had a burning desire to make a Hollywood film with Tom Cruise as the lead actor.
'I know he was a Japanese in a previous life,' she said playfully.
'I remember that he and I were together (in a previous life). I believe he'd get it if I said to him 'long time no see' when I meet him.'
She also explained how she gets energy from the sun.
'When the sun is up, I always eat it... I tear it off and eat it like this,' she said, gesturing as if she was tearing off pieces of the sun and putting them in her mouth. 'That gives me great power.'
According to a BBC report, the prime minister 'has not tried to tone down his wife's eccentric ways and has made no secret of his devotion to her', describing her as 'an energy refuelling base'.
'I used to live in a world where you believe things only when they are logically proved, but I have experienced so many things that cannot be explained with logic since I met my wife,' the former engineering scholar said.
She has written cookbooks and also serves as her husband's hairstylist and wardrobe coordinator, personally taming his unruly curly hair and selecting quirky items for him like a shirt with heart-shaped motifs.
She was an important asset in his election campaign, winning fans with her cheerful talk and friendly smiles. She even performed a Michael Jackson-style moonwalk for people recording her with their cellphone cameras while campaigning.
The couple met while he was studying at California's Stanford University and married in 1975 after she divorced her previous husband, a chef.
The relationship caused a mild scandal for Hatoyama, the BBC reported. He comes from a prestigious political family often dubbed Japan's equivalent of the Kennedy clan.
And they are still regarded as an unconventional couple, especially in the context of Japan's conservative political culture.
She has taken part in charity fashion shows, walking down the catwalk with her husband in tow. The couple have also sung duets from the Phantom Of The Opera at charity events.
They have a son, Kiichiro, 33, who is currently an engineering researcher at Moscow State University.
Miyuki has told Japanese media that she is looking forward to meeting her American counterpart, Michelle Obama.
'I think she is so natural and has a kind of sensibility similar to mine. If I can have the chance to meet her, I would look forward to it.'
This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times.
