Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara revealed discomposure Friday when questioned about the low rating he received in a survey of 400 metropolitan government employees. "It doesn't show anything," the governor retorted in a regular news conference. Ishihara received an average score of 60 out of 100 in the survey released the same day by the Tosei Shinpo newsletter. "I don't care, not at all." While close to 80 percent of those polled praised the governor's decision-making skills, only 5.6 percent agreed that Ishihara was "democratic" and only 12.9 percent said he was approachable. The survey was conducted eight months after Ishihara took office in April, pledging at the time to stir up heated debate in the governor's office. His predecessor, Yukio Aoshima, was regarded as democratic by 59.1 percent and approachable by 80.7 percent in a similar survey also eight months into his term. Aoshima was often labeled a puppet of city bureaucrats. During the same news conference, Ishihara blamed a misguided sense of democracy and social responsibility for difficulties faced by Kobe officials creating new city zones following the Great Hanshin Earthquake. "People are saying, this is my land, I used to live on this corner," Ishihara said. "This is one of the problems of Japan's Constitution," he said. "People's rights alone are being overly emphasized without people thinking of their (social) responsibilities. "In issues where your responsibilities are in question, you must act on your own judgment," he said, concerning the survey. "Bring those 400 people here. Let me rate them."
