Ishiba gets a Koizumi bump

For now, the wind is at the prime minister's back

Thank you for reading Observing Japan. This post is available to paid subscribers.

If you are looking for timely, forward-looking analysis of the stories in Japans’s politics and policymaking that move markets, I have launched a new service through my business, Japan Foresight LLC. For more information about Japan Foresight’s services or for information on how to sign up for a trial or schedule a briefing, please visit our website or reach out to me.

All readers can access regularly updated charts of a ten-day moving average of the government’s popularity here.

---

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru attends a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on 6 June. Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Japan

Ishiba Shigeru has had a difficult three months, but new opinion polls suggest that he may finally have the wind at his back.

The shift in his favor detected in earlier polling may finally be translating into better headline numbers. New polls conducted by NHK and TV Asahi over the weekend contributed to a sharp increase in the Ishiba government’s net approval, with his average net approval reaching roughly -10%, the first time it has been above -15% since 15 March, around the time that reports of Ishiba’s gifts to newly elected Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers were reported. The improvement was particularly notable in the NHK poll, in which his net approval swung from -15 in May (48% disapproval, 33% approval) to -3 (42% disapproval, 39% approval) in June.¹