Public-Opinion Polls in Japan

I know some rich Japanese who are good at English and other foreign languages than I. But, they have nothing to say to the world, since they think they are rich enough. Indeed, all they can do is laughing at the poor who do not like them. I do not like them to laugh at poor Japanese, as long as they are Japanese. (Yet, they have only less than $10 million [Laughter]! Even rich Japanese gangsters in the bubble era boasted that they had $1 billion [Laughter, Laughter]!)


Now, according to public-opinion polls conducted by the Japanese media in these few days in the wake of the decision by the Public prosecutors on possible indictment of DPJ Secretary-General Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, once a boss of Prime Minister Mr. Yukio Hatoyama while still behaving so,
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Alarmed at the Japan-U.S. relationship under the Hatoyama leadership: 68% (Yomiuri)

Desirable for Mr. Ichiro Ozawa to resign from the No.2 position of the DPJ: 74% (Yomiuri)

Desirable for Mr. Ichiro Ozawa to resign from the No.2 position of the DPJ: 68% (Asahi)

Not desirable for Mr. Ozawa to exercise an influence on P.M. Mr. Hatoyama: 74% (Asahi)

Will vote for the DPJ of P.M. Mr. Hatoyama in the coming national election: 34% (Asahi)

Will vote for the LDP who lost power last summer in the coming national election: 27% (Asahi)

Support the Hatoyama Cabinet? Yes - 41%; No - 45% (Tokyo)

Note: Yomiuri stands for the Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper; Asahi for the Asahi Shimbun Newspaper; and Tokyo for The Tokyo Shimbun Newspaper.
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Voters in Japan do not like Mr. Ichiro Ozawa at all for various reasons including doubtful $4 to $8 million cash in his home and his arrogant behaviors in politics.

However, the LDP who had possessed power for half a century till the last summer is still unable to recover respect and trust from the voters.

The key to understanding the satiation is the gap between the rich and the poor. Almost all the people who can become rich by supporting the LDP have become rich. Others who cannot become rich any more, if they support the LDP, have turned to the DPJ.

But, while the DPJ supporters want to be rich so much by supporting the DPJ, the fact that 70% of them do not trust Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, No.2 of the DPJ, is very grave.

Moreover, two thirds of those 70% who think Mr. Ozawa should step down from the DPJ leadership want him to resign as a Diet member, which means the end of Mr. Ozawa's 40-year long career as a lawmaker.

In summary, most of voters in Japan want to be happy or rich or to survive together with the DPJ, but not with Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, while P.M. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama is in a delicate position.


Note: The Tokyo Public Prosecutor Office arrested and indicted three present/ex-secretaries, including one incumbent Diet member, of Mr. Ichiro Ozawa for violation of the Political Funding Regulation Law, but refrained from arresting Mr. Ichiro Ozawa himself.