(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Half of adults in Japan are dissatisfied with the appointed cabinet of Yasuo Fukuda, according to a poll by Kyodo News. 50.6 per cent of respondents disapprove of the prime minister’s team, up 6.1 points since February.

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 Mar. 17, Japanese finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga expressed reservations about the yen’s "excessive" spike to a 12-year high against the U.S. dollar, saying, "We are concerned as the movements are excessive. We are watching with great interest."

Polling Data

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

Source: Kyodo News
Methodology: Interviews with 1,023 Japanese adults, conducted on Mar. 15 and Mar. 16, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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