Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has seen his approval rating plummet of late along with the yen. But he’s sticking with his world-defying bet on loose monetary policy even as voter dissatisfaction grows.
Support for Kishida’s year-old Cabinet has slumped to below 30%, roughly half of what it was six months ago, mostly due to a public uproar over his ruling party’s links with a fringe church that were exposed after the July murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader. Kishida announced a probe into the organization this week in a bid to quash the scandal.
At the same time, voters are becoming increasingly unhappy about higher prices fueled by the yen, which this month weakened to the lowest level against the dollar since 1990. September figures due Friday are expected to show Japan’s key inflation gauge hitting 3%, the highest in about 30 years after factoring out tax distortions.