Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s public support dropped below 50 percent for the first time amid a campaign to strengthen Japan’s secrecy laws. It showed 50 percent of those surveyed opposed a bill passed by the Diet’s lower house last week that boosts penalties for leaking confidential government information. Unease over the bill accompanies an emergence of inflation in the world’s third-largest economy that threatens to damage further Abe’s public backing. Yoshinori Kobayashi, a manga artist, called the secrecy bill little more than Abe’s “machoism” in a column on the front page of the Asahi newspaper three days ago. He noted that the Peace Preservation Act of 1925, used to suppress dangerous thoughts, ultimately was used against ordinary people in Japan’s prewar years and during World War II. There are no specifics in the law, which means it can be used to hide whatever the government wishes to keep away from public light, said Mizuho Fukushima, a former leader of the Social Democratic Party for 10 years. Adding to Abe’s challenges, the cabinet member in charge of the government’s “growth strategy” to aid reflation and end two decades of economic stagnation was hospitalized. Economy Minister Akira Amari, 64, will stay in hospital for three to four days.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:12:35 +0000
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