Word: dieted
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...reality, Abe is unlikely to fall so quickly. The LDP holds an unassailable majority in the Diet's lower house, and approval ratings for the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) are even worse than the Prime Minister's. Abe's supporters also argue that he remains relatively popular by the lackluster historical standards of most Japanese leaders, and that he hasn't received enough credit for repairing Japan's often fractious relations with its Asian neighbors. Shoichi Nakagawa, the LDP's powerful policy chief, asserts that the Abe Cabinet takes everyday issues just as seriously as it does...
...issue of poverty and social disparity more seriously than Koizumi did, appointing a special minister to take charge of a program designed to help the unemployed and underemployed refine their job skills. "We're hardly disregarding people's kitchens," says Nobutaka Machimura, a former Foreign Minister and influential LDP Diet member. But when Abe's feel-good rhetoric clashes with the economic realities of Japan today, he can look disingenuous or simply ineffective. At the LDP convention in January, Abe declared that "economic growth is not for business enterprises, it is for the public," and later called on Keidanren, Japan...
...Certainly the Japanese people have every right to put their own stamp on a constitution that was, after all, effectively written for them by an occupying power. But revision, which requires a two-thirds majority in the Diet, will take years to accomplish. Expending that kind of energy on a constitutional issue while the opposition DPJ focuses on bread-and-butter economic matters doesn't make a lot of political sense in an election year. "What should politicians do now?" DPJ head Ichiro Ozawa asked in the Diet last month. "Amend the constitution or improve people's lives...
...nothing is done to alter the equation, a shrinking supply of workers will struggle to support a growing number of retirees, while Japan's national debt means the government may be unable to provide a strong safety net. "People have lost confidence in the pension system," says Diet member Kono, who connects this fear to depressed consumer spending...
...minister quickly apologized, but Abe's critics seized on the incident-and on Abe's refusal to fire Yanagisawa-as evidence that the administration can't handle the demographic issue. "The Health Ministry deals with grave fundamental social issues like the decreasing population," says Yoshiaki Takaki, the DPJ's Diet policy chief. "We cannot accept that it is headed by someone who has demonstrated a complete lack of respect for people...