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Public Support For Japanese Cabinet Plunges to 19 Percent: Poll
Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's cabinet has sunk considerably over his controversial remark that Japan is a divine nation centering on the emperor, a leading Japanese newspaper reported Tuesday. Mori's popularity rate has now plunged to 19 percent from 41 percent in early April.
The disapproval rate for the cabinet has jumped to 62 percent from 26 percent last month, the Asahi Shimbun said. The newspaper surveyed 2,000 randomly selected eligible voters across Japan by telephone on Sunday and Monday, of whom 1,150 responded.
Of the respondents, 67 percent said Mori's remark is problematic, compared with 23 percent who said it is not.
Mori, at a press conference last Friday, apologized once again for "causing misunderstanding among many people" for his May 15 remark while refusing to retract it.
Regarding his explanation, 60 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with it while only 23 percent said they were.
At a May 15 meeting of lawmakers linked to Japan's Shinto religion, Mori said, "Japan is a divine nation with the emperor at its center. We have been working for 30 years to have people firmly acknowledge that."
Critics said the comment not only reminded people of the ideology that drove Japan's wartime militarism, but also ran counter to the separation of religion and state as enshrined in Japan's constitution.
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