OSAKA — When Yukio Hatoyama makes his international debut as the new prime minister later this month at the United Nations and in Pittsburgh at the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit, he'll be discussing Japan's new policies on everything from the environment to the global economy with President Barack Obama and other world leaders.

But he'll also have to convince skeptics and naysayers in Washington that his election is good news for the future of Japan's relations with the U.S.

That task was made more difficult by a New York Times Op-Ed piece from Hatoyama just before the election that saw his Democratic Party of Japan oust the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.