(05/17/10) -

Japanese Condemn Hatoyama Cabinet

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The appointed cabinet of Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama is widely disliked, according to a poll by Yomiuri. 67 per cent of respondents disapprove of the sitting administration, up 16 points since April.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The appointed cabinet of Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama is widely disliked, according to a poll by Yomiuri. 67 per cent of respondents disapprove of the sitting administration, up 16 points since April.

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. DPJ leader Hatoyama 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.

In late April, a judicial panel decided that Ozawa should be criminally charged over the funding scandal.

On Apr. 30, Hatoyama said that Ozawa "should retain his post" as the party’s secretary-general until a mid-term election takes place in July.

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet?