Kishida pivots focus from church as approval ratings stay in free fall

The approval ratings of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have been declining with no clear prospect of recovery, according to surveys by major media organizations, with the government and the ruling parties feeling a growing sense of crisis.

As the issue regarding the Uni cation Church shows no sign of being brought under control, Kishida intends to break the impasse by focusing on foreign and economic policies.

On those fronts, Kishida told reporters at the Prime Minister’s O ce on Monday evening, “I postponed my departure to the United States to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting, because I wanted to con rm the damage caused by Typhoon No. 14 and be thoroughly prepared for recovery work.”

On Monday morning, Kishida called Koichi Tani, minister of state for disaster management, to the prime minister’s of

cial residence to receive a report on the damage. at evening, Kishida attended a meeting of related Cabinet ministers and instructed them again to implement emergency disaster measures with top priority given to saving lives.

An aide to Kishida said that, with the foundation of his administration shaken, he has paid utmost attention to crisis management in response to the disaster.

Surveys conducted by Sunday by major media organizations have shown a clear trend of decline for the Kishida Cabinet approval ratings.

According to a survey by e Mainichi Newspapers, the rate dropped by seven percentage points to 29% from the previous survey in late August, moving below 30% for the rst time since Kishida launched his Cabinet in October 2021. e rate measured by Kyodo News fell by 13.9 points to 40.2%, while that of e Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) Shimbun dropped by 14 points to 43%.

e issue of the Uni cation Church, o cially named the Family Federation for World Peace and Uni cation, is believed to be the biggest reason for the public to be casting a stern eye on the Cabinet.

On Sept. 8, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said a party survey found that 179 of 379 party lawmakers had interactions with the Uni cation Church. However, since then, there have been cases of oversights and errors in the survey. For example, a er the release of the party survey results, Seiji Kihara, a deputy chief cabinet secretary and close aide to Kishida, disclosed that he had participated in a panel discussion organized by a Uni cation Church-a liated organization.

Kishida has also been under re by opposition parties for a lack of explanation on the issue of a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. A senior LDP lawmaker said: “It is a similar situation to that of the end of the administration of previous Prime Minister [Yoshihide] Suga. If it is impossible to stop the declining trend in approval ratings, the same thing could happen.”

With the Uni cation Church issue lingering, Kishida is trying to reconstruct the administration itself by accumulating tangible results in terms of foreign and economic policies. Kishida, who served as foreign minister under the Abe administration for four years and seven months, is con dent in his knowledge of foreign policy.

With Abe’s state funeral on Sept. 27 providing another venue for diplomacy, Kishida intends to promote his own style of diplomacy there.

ABE FACTION HOLDS WORKSHOP

e Abe faction of the Liberal Democratic Party has held its rst workshop since its then leader, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was fatally shot in July.

Members of the faction, which is known as Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai, met at a Tokyo hotel on Monday. ey aimed to deepen their understanding of Abe’s signature Abenomics policies, as well as diplomatic and security policies.

A moment of silence was observed for Abe at the beginning of the workshop, and each member received a portrait photograph of the former prime minister.

“Our goal is to achieve results by following Mr. Abe’s wishes and the policy issues that he worked on,” acting faction chairman Ryu Shionoya said. “I ask you to stand in unity to achieve the goal.”

Hiroshige Seko, secretary general for the LDP and Abe faction chair in the House of Councillors, stressed the signi cance of Abe’s state funeral scheduled for Sept. 27.

“[Mr. Abe] won democratic elections and served as prime minister for the longest time in the history of Japan’s Constitution. A state funeral is being held to respect that position,” he said. (Sept. 21)