(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in Japan continue to grow dissatisfied with the government led by prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, according to a poll by Nikkei. 57 per cent of respondents disapprove of Hatoyama’s cabinet, up eight points since February.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in Japan continue to grow dissatisfied with the government led by prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, according to a poll by Nikkei. 57 per cent of respondents disapprove of Hatoyama’s cabinet, up eight points since February.
In August 2009, 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 in September.
Aside from a brief period in the 1990s, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had administered Japan’s government for more than five decades.
The former LDP-led government was marred by corruptions scandals. The new government has been the subject of suspicions as well.
In December, Hatoyama was criticized after it was revealed that political donations registered under the names of several individuals actually came from his mother. The Japanese prime minister has acknowledged receiving a monthly contribution of about $164,000 U.S. from his mother, but vowed to pay back taxes and penalties amounting to about $6.5 million U.S.
In January, three current and former aides of Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ’s secretary general, were arrested and charged with falsifying information in party fundraising reports. The three men were identified as Mitsutomo Ikeda, current DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, and Takanori Okubo.
On Mar. 29, Hatoyama vowed to continue collaborating "honestly" with authorities investigating the funding scandal involving Ozawa, declaring, "I would like to continue to assume my responsibility for explaining the case whenever necessary."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet?
|
|
Mar. 2010
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Feb. 2010
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Jan. 2010
|
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Approve
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36%
|
43%
|
45%
|
|
Disapprove
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57%
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49%
|
47%
|
Source: Nikkei
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 954 Japanese adults, conducted from Mar. 26 to Mar. 28, 2010. No margin of error was provided.
