The approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister, Taro Aso, and his Cabinet has now officially fallen below 20%, according to a telephone poll conducted by Kyodo News this weekend. But, crucially, Aso has refused to call a general election – a promise he made back in November before he was even elected leader of the LDP. So, what difference does this new lowest approval rating really make?Link to the original story at The Japan Times.

Political pundits have been foretelling of the demise of the LDP for some time. Others, more recently, have suggested that the current global economic woes will speed up the process of political change in Japan and this most recent Kyodo poll shows Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, with an approval rating of 46.4%, up 11.9 points.

The LDP has been out of power for just a tiny proportion of the last 50 years. In the current economic climate string leadership is needed more than ever.

Today hundreds of temporary workers from Toyota were laid-off and given refuge in a Tokyo city-centre hotel. As the situation worsens in Japan, people will perhaps finally start to vote with their feet and usher in a period of true change. We shall have to wait and see.