Japan PM enjoys poll boost after reshuffle

Kan Friday drafted Kaoru Yosano, leader of a tiny opposition party and an advocate of raising the 5 percent sales tax to fund mounting social welfare costs, as the government's economics minister.

He also replaced his No. 2 minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, and Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi, who had been censured by the upper house for their handling of a territorial dispute with China.

The reshuffled cabinet received a support rating of 34 percent, up from 25 percent in December, in an opinion poll for the Yomiuri Shimbun carried out on Friday and Saturday among 1,736 eligible voters.

The Kyodo poll found a majority, at 56.9 percent, believed Japan should join the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade initiative, whose prospects got a potential boost with the shift to the trade portfolio of Banri Kaieda, the previous economics minister and a supporter of Japan's participation in the TPP.

Business leaders are keen for Japan to join the initiative, fiercely opposed by farm lobbies.

Support remained precariously low for Kan's Democratic Party of Japan, at 22.7 percent, although this was a slight gain from 20.6 percent in the previous poll. Support for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party edged down to 24.1 percent from 24.6 percent.

Views toward Yosano appeared mixed, however, with 44.9 percent saying they had expectations of him while 48.2 percent said they did not.

Among the changes in Kan's third cabinet since becoming prime minister were new ministers for fiscal policy, trade, justice and transport while the premier kept other key posts such as foreign, finance and defense portfolios unchanged.

Japan is scheduled to hold its next general elections in 2013.

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