TOKYO (MNI) – The public approval rating for the cabinet of Prime
Minister Naoto Kan rose marginally following a minor cabinet reshuffle
on Friday, according to weekend polls by Japanese news media.

But the polls also showed the majority was not happy with the
appointment of veteran lawmaker and former finance minister Kaoru Yosano
as a key economic minister as part of Kan’s push for an overhaul of the
nation’s tax system featuring a sales tax hike aimed at financing
fast-growing social security costs.

Yosano, 72, left a small opposition party on Thursday to join the
cabinet, saying he had been seeking to reform the public pension and
medical services by securing a stable funding source.

The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party demanded that Yosano
give up his seat in the lower house of parliament that he won in 2009
when he was still with the LDP before leaving the party to co-found the
Sunrise Party of Japan in the following year.

The public approval rating for the cabinet of Prime Minister Kan
inched up to 29% in a weekend poll conducted on Jan. 14 and 15 by the
Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, up from 24% in its December survey.

The Mainichi poll also showed that the disapproval rating fell
seven percentage points to 49% but that some 55% of respondents said
they do not appreciate the appointment of Yosano as the minister for
economic and fiscal policy.

Polls by other news media also confirmed only a limited recovery in
public confidence in the Kan government launched in June last year.

A poll conducted by the Asahi Shimbun on Jan. 15-16 showed that the
approval rating improved to 26% from 21% in December while that the
disapproval rating slid to 54% from 60%.

The Asahi survey also found that 50% of respondents did not take
positively the selection of Yosano, who is seen as a key person in Kan’s
resolve to spur cross-party debate on raising the 5% consumption tax as
49% of the respondents do not appreciate such a policy stance.

A similar survey conducted between Saturday and Sunday by Tokyo
Broadcasting System Corp showed that the support rating rose 6.3
percentage points to 28.3% from December and the disapproval rating fell
6.3 percentage points to 70.6%.

On Friday Kan picked Yosano as Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister,
a move aimed at breaking the impasse on starting parliamentary debate on
the next fiscal year’s budget.

In the cabinet reshuffle, Yukio Edano, who was the ruling
Democratic Party of Japan’s deputy secretary-general, replaced Yoshito
Sengoku, who became the acting president of the DPJ.

Opposition parties have demanded that both Chief Cabinet Secretary
Sengoku, a close ally of Kan’s, and Land, Infrastructure, Transport and
Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi resign over their handling of Japan’s
territorial dispute with China, threatening to boycott budget debate.

Meantime, Banri Kaieda lost his economic minister’s post to Yosano
but took over as the head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
from Akihiro Ohata, who moved into the top seat at the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **

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