日本第一夫人让人耳目一新

For Japan's media, politics has suddenly become a lot more interesting, thanks to the country's new First Lady. She's made headlines with tales of alien encounters and past lives. Here's NBC's Ian Williams.

Japan has never had a First Lady quite like Miyuki Hatoyama: she's a world apart or perhaps even on the next planet.

"She's very confident. You know, this is me, except me for who I am. This is what I do and you know, and if you don't take it, leave it."

In a recent interview, she showed how she eats the sun to gain energy. She described how she'd met Tom Cruise in the past life. He was Japanese back then, she says, perhaps a flash back to his movie role as a samurai knight(日本武士). And she said her spirit had flown by UFO to Venus, which she called "a beautiful place".

Most Japanese seem remarkably unfazed by the cosmic adventures of their new First Lady, instead she's widely seen here as a breath of fresh air.

"She's straight shooter and I really like her."

straight shooter这个词组也是一个美式英语，解释为an honest person who you can trust，一个坦诚可信赖的人。我们知道shoot是射击的意思，而shooter就是射击手，straight shooter就是说话像开机关枪一样，嘴上没个把门的，所以就形容一个人很直率。

"I really admire her for having her own opinions."

The First Lady's used to being center stage. She's a former actress and singer with the all-female Takarazuka Revue(宝冢歌剧团). The self-proclaimed lifestyle guru, she met Mr. Hatoyama when he was studying engineering at Stanford and she was working in her first husband's restaurant.

Now Japan has a first couple whose public displays of affection are as alien here as Venus.

"In Japan, it's, you know, the man is the man, the lady is lady, five steps behind me. And here we have the Prime Minister and the First Lady showing that to everybody: yes, it's OK to appreciate your wife, you know, and help your husband."

NTV television took these pictures, the first couple thumb-wrestling on their official plane.

She's transformed her husband's previously humdrum image.

"She does his hair and chooses his necktie and what he's gonna wear and that't how they start their day."

And wherever her interplanetary travels may take her, she's certainly bringing a touch of colour to Japan's political catwalk.