(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Japan’s appointed cabinet continues to prompt poor reviews, according to a poll by Kyodo News. 26.8 per cent of respondents approve of the government of Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, up 1.8 points since June.

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.

On Jul. 14, South Korea’s government recalled its ambassador to Japan after Fukuda’s government said it wants school textbooks to mention a land claim over a series of small Islands in the Sea of Japan that are currently controlled by South Korea.

As Kwon Chul-hyun was recalled from his duties, Komura defended the decision, saying, "It’s been decided between myself, the chief cabinet secretary and involved ministers that this is the best solution."

Polling Data

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

Source: Kyodo News
Methodology: Interviews with 1,300 Japanese adults, conducted on Jul. 11 and Jul. 12, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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