Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s surprise visit to Japan for the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima met with a warm public welcome, and may bolster enough support for host Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to prompt him to call an early general election.
Kishida’s coup in hosting the Ukrainian president on his first visit to Asia since Russia’s full-scale invasion adds to broader reputational gains from hosting the global leaders in his hometown of Hiroshima. TV channels went live as Zelenskyy was driven from the airport to the city, which was flattened by an atomic bomb almost 78 years ago, with people taking to the streets to try to catch a glimpse of him.
A poll carried out by the Mainichi newspaper during the two days Zelenskyy was in Japan showed Kishida’s support rate leaped by 9 percentage points, to 45%. Another survey by the Yomiuri newspaper over the same time period also found a 9 percentage point surge, to 56%.