Taro Aso's leadership in terminal decline
Updated
As weeks go, it hasn't been a very good one for the Japanese Prime Minister, Taro Aso.
His approval rating has plunged to below 10-percent; the economy shrank by about the same figure and his Finance minister resigned after appearing drunk at a press conference. With an election due in the coming months, many believe Mr Aso's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is destined for Opposition after 53 years of almost uninterrupted power.
Mark Willacy
Speakers: Shoichi Nakagawa, sacked finance minister
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MARK WILLACY: So often a bland array of staid suits and grave faces, Japanese politics received a shot of excitement this week thanks to the country's Finance Minister.
(Shoichi Nakagawa speaking)
MARK WILLACY: Shoichi Nakagawa's pickled performance at his very own press conference has been on endless loop on Japanese TV.
(Women speaking)
'I wonder what politicians are doing while we are facing a once in a century crisis,' says this woman. 'They should be discussing economic matters properly.'
'He must have been very tired,' says another.
Shoichi Nakagawa wasn't the only Japanese with the staggers this week. GDP figures showed the economy here was contracting by an annual rate of 12.7 per cent. Some would argue that's not a recession but a depression.
Depression would certainly be an apt way of describing the mood of the Prime Minister Taro Aso when it comes to his Government's approval rating. While the economy shrank by more than 10 per cent, the Government's approval rating slipped below that lowly mark according to one TV poll.
Mr Aso's popularity has plunged more dramatically than the economy - a fact not helped by his constant gaffes. Known widely as 'Aso-isms' they stem from the Prime Minister's apparent difficulty reading kanji script.
In one case Mr Aso stood up in Parliament to endorse a sincere apology for the brutality of the Second World War but instead of saying 'I support the apology for the war', he blurted out 'I stench the apology for the war'.
Now even members of his own Liberal Democratic Party are publicly turning on him. Popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is vowing to abstain from a vote on Mr Aso's economic stimulus Bills. He'd earlier attacked his party leader, the Prime Minister, for what he called Mr Aso's appalling and laughable blunders.
There are now whispers that the ruling LDP will try to replace Mr Aso ahead of this year's election in a bid to avert the looming train wreck at the polls. But the problem is, he's the third man to occupy the Prime Minister's residence in as many years.
Anyone who is anyone in the LDP has already had a turn sitting in the big chair.
