78% say they cannot accept agriculture minister's remarks on budget cuts

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. [Reuters]
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. [Reuters]

The approval rating for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's cabinet has fallen to 51 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous month's survey, NHK reported Tuesday.

The figure, drawn from an NHK poll of 1,184 people aged 18 and older conducted from Saturday through Monday, marks the lowest level recorded in monthly surveys since the cabinet took office in October last year.

The share of respondents who said they do not support the Takaichi cabinet rose 1 percentage point from the previous month to 32 percent.

Asked to evaluate last month's cabinet reshuffle and Liberal Democratic Party leadership appointments, 42 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment — 4 percent "very positive" and 38 percent "somewhat positive." A higher share, 48 percent, gave a negative assessment, with 33 percent saying they "do not rate it highly" and 15 percent saying they "do not rate it at all."

Only 8 percent of respondents said they found Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana's explanation acceptable after he said he had sharply cut budget allocations for local governments in his constituency whose mayors had not supported him. Some 78 percent said they could not accept his explanation. Yana has since retracted the remarks, apologized, and said he intends to fulfill his duties.


joze@heraldcorp.com