(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Japanese government continues to disappoint most people in the country, according to a poll by Nikkei. 63 per cent of respondents disapprove of the appointed cabinet of Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, down one point since May.

In September 2007, Fukuda was elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and officially sworn in as Japan’s prime minister, substituting Shinzo Abe. Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary during the premierships of Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi. He is also the son of former Japanese head of government Takeo Fukuda.

Fukuda retained many of Abe’s collaborators in the new Japanese cabinet. Nobutaka Machimura—who served as foreign minister under Abe—was appointed as chief cabinet secretary, Masahiko Komura is now in charge of foreign affairs, and Shigeru Ishiba has taken over as defence minister.

An election to renew half of the House of Councillors seats took place in July 2007. Final results gave the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 60 of the 121 seats at stake, with the governing LDP winning 37 mandates. The opposition—with 137 seats—now holds a majority in the upper house of Japan’s Diet for the first time since the LDP was founded in 1955.

Fukuda has recently rebuked calls for an early legislative election. On Jul. 2, former LDP secretary-general Koichi Kato acknowledged that the party would not fare well in a snap ballot, saying, "If we do it now, our party is not guaranteed to get first place. Not only would it be impossible to get a simple majority, but to win."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Yasuo Fukuda’s cabinet?

Source: Nikkei
Methodology: Interviews with 900 Japanese adults, conducted from Jun. 27 to Jun. 29, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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