(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The new government of Japan under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama is remarkably popular, according to a poll by Mainichi. 72 per cent of respondents approve of the performance of the prime minister’s cabinet.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The new government of Japan under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama is remarkably popular, according to a poll by Mainichi. 72 per cent of respondents approve of the performance of the prime minister’s cabinet.
Last August, Japanese voters renewed the House of Representatives. Final results gave the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) a victory with 308 of the 480 lower house seats at stake. Hatoyama, the DPJ leader, was sworn in as prime minister on Sept. 16.
Aside from a brief period in the 1990s, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had administered Japan’s government for more than five decades.
On Oct. 20, Japan Post president Yoshifumi Nishikawa announced he would step down, citing differences between the policies of the current and previous governments on privatization.
Financial services and postal reform minister Shizuka Kamei has said that the new administration wants to review a recent drive to privatize Japan Post. He appointed former deputy finance minister Jiro Saito to replace Nishikawa.
Saito, who was until now the head of the Tokyo Financial Exchange, accepted his new job, declaring, "It’s going to be tough work, but I’ll just do my best."
Japan Post is the Asian country’s largest employer—with 400,000 workers—and also the world’s biggest savings bank, worth an estimated $3.1 trillion U.S. in funds and insurance policies.
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet?
|
Approve |
72% |
|
Disapprove |
17% |
Source: Mainichi
Methodology: Interviews with 1,067 Japanese adults, conducted on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, 2009. No margin of error was provided.
