| Labor unions fear Koizumi's promised economic reforms would mean lay-offs | |
TOKYO, Japan -- Newly elected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has sought to boost his soaring popularity by attending a May Day labor rally, as public opinion polls showed his honeymoon with voters is going strong.
A phenomenal 86.3 percent of voters polled by Kyodo news agency have said they approved of the new government of Koizumi, who had just appointed a new cabinet.
Some 65 percent of respondents to a telephone survey conducted after Koizumi's election on Thursday said they had high hopes for their new leader, the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
Another survey, conducted by commercial broadcaster TV Tokyo, found that some 81.3 percent supported the new government.
The results were in stark contrast to the abysmal support ratings of Koizumi's hugely unpopular predecessor Yoshiro Mori.
Even Morihiro Hosokawa, who took power in 1993 amid a similarly strong desire for reform, only had approval ratings of 70 percent just after he took the helm.
Courting labor
Not since 1996 has a prime minister attended a labor rally.
"I was impressed," said one taxi driver quoted by the Asahi Shimbun's evening edition. "It's unusual for a prime minister to make efforts to deal with labor unions in a serious way."
Labor unions, which have been at odds with the central government for more than a year, are among those skeptical of the self-styled reformer's promises of radical changes in his hide-bound Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and of boosting Japan's enfeebled economy.
| The popular Makiko Tanaka is Japan's first female foreign minister | |
Union members fear mass lay-offs, as Koizumi has repeatedly said he would not shy away from painful reforms needed to set the world's second largest economy on the path of recovery.
But Koizumi said at the rally, sponsored by Japan's largest labor union, that his election was a new way of politics more in line with their views.
"My taking office as prime minister has the same meaning as the change that you have been calling for," he told the Japanese Trade Union Confederation members among about 100,000 listeners who converged at Tokyo Park.
"Forming a system that will do everything it can to improve the lives of laborers is one of the most important tasks of my government," he added.
On Friday, Koizumi was greeted by a nasty reminder of the economic troubles that lie ahead, as a raft of economic data including tumbling industrial production painted a grim picture of the economy.
"I feel tremendous pressure, which I had never imagined before I became prime minister," he said.
Political savvy
Critics say that Koizumi's attendance at the rally is an attempt to court supporters of the largest opposition Democratic party ahead of crucial elections for the Upper House of parliament in July.
"I'm really worried about the future," said a 29-year-old female office worker. "Is he going to just talk about reform, or actually do something about it?"
"I have real doubts about whether the LDP will change that much," a 53-year-old businessman said.
Chief government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda refuted skeptics, saying Koizumi had to seek the opinion of labor unions as the government pursues structural reform.
"Having Koizumi as prime minister will be very good for Japan's reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world," said the 50-year-old owner of a restaurant in Ichikawa, just east of Tokyo.
"I am looking forward to seeing what he does."
Media relations
Japanese media have welcomed Koizumi's eclectic cabinet for its inclusion of young lawmakers, private sector experts, and women.
They, stressed, however, that proof the self-styled reformer could actually keep his promises with his new cabinet remains to be seen.
Turning around those media doubts will be crucial if Koizumi wants to stay in office after the Upper House poll, a lesson Mori never learned.
While the blunder-prone Mori certainly harmed himself in the public eye, it was his poor relations with the media, despite having been a journalist, that proved most damaging in the end.
Mori's support plummeted to single digits during the last few months of his tenure, prompting leaders in the ruling coalition to ditch him, fearful of doing badly in the July elections.
This cleared the way for the election of Koizumi, 59, who parlayed his reputation as an eccentric into a strong image as a popular reformer, garnering the widespread support that helped sweep him into power.
Reuters contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES:
Koizumi's cabinet choices 'political'
27 April 2001
Japan hopes new leader can deliver
25 April 2001
RELATED SITES:
Japanese Prime Minister
Liberal Democratic Party of JapanNote: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
