Katayama Most Widely Seen Unfit for Cabinet Minister: Jiji Survey

December 15, 2018

Tokyo--Regional revitalization minister Satsuki Katayama is the cabinet member most widely seen by Japanese people as unfit to be a minister, a Jiji Press survey showed.

Katayama was chosen by 43.7 pct of respondents, who were asked which members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet are unsuited to be a minister, with multiple answers allowed.

Since taking office in Abe's cabinet reshuffle in October, Katayama has repeatedly corrected her political funds reports.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso landed in second place, at 30.1 pct. He was grilled by opposition lawmakers in parliament over his ministry's tampering of documents.

Yoshitaka Sakurada, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, came third with 29.4 pct.

Sakurada, who doubles as minister for cybersecurity, attracted foreign media attention for saying that he did not use a computer.

Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita, who oversees the amended immigration control law to accept more foreign workers, placed fourth with 6.8 pct.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga came in fifth place, at 6.1 pct, followed by Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, with 3.6 pct, and land minister Keiichi Ishii and economic and fiscal policy minister Toshimitsu Motegi, both with 3.5 pct.

The interview-based survey, conducted between Dec. 7 and Monday, covered 2,000 people aged 18 or over across Japan. It received valid answers from 60.7 pct. Jiji Press