Sanae Takaichi has done something few Japanese leaders manage. She’s reached her first anniversary in office more popular than her predecessors, and she looks well placed to keep the job. In a country that has burned through five prime ministers in a decade, this counts for a lot. Popularity, though, is only one of two […]

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A taxa de aprovação do governo da primeira-ministra japonesa, Sanae Takaichi, caiu para menos de 50%, atingindo o nível mais baixo desde que ela assumiu o cargo, em outubro do ano passado, informou a agência de notícias Kyodo neste domingo.

Em uma pesquisa realizada entre 17 e 18 de outubro, a aprovação do governo de Takaichi foi de 49,1%, segundo a agência.

A queda pode ter sido influenciada pela demora de Takaichi em reagir à renúncia de Kazuo Yana, ministro da Agricultura do país, informou a Kyodo.

Yana deixou o cargo na quarta-feira (14), após ser criticado por declarações sobre o corte de verbas para estradas de municípios que não o apoiaram.

Cerca de 57,7% dos entrevistados disseram que a decisão de Takaichi de substituí-lo veio “tarde demais”, segundo a Kyodo, enquanto 81,5% consideraram natural que Yana renunciasse.

Takaichi nomeou Yana durante uma reforma ministerial no mês passado, mas o repreendeu publicamente no Parlamento pelas declarações sobre o financiamento de estradas, divulgadas inicialmente pela imprensa local no começo deste mês.

Sanae Takaichi said she has a busier schedule than her male predecessors, a nod to the disproportionate share of household tasks in Japan that fall to women.

© Suo Takekuma/Kyodo News, via Associated Press

A commercial starring Lady Gaga for FamilyMart — in which the pop diva is shown mopping the floor before inviting viewers to follow her example and apply to work for the convenience-store chain (among other products) — has revived an advertising practice that flourished before the internet made it commonplace to see Hollywood stars outside of Japan in non-celluloid situations. Dressed in a garment with pronounced shoulder pads and a short platinum-blond bob, the music star performs a choreography in which she also restocks shelves, offers fried chicken, scrubs the floor and, during her break, contemplates the view through a surreal skylight. The video, shot in a monochrome aesthetic with flashes of neon green and blue, ends when Gaga looks at the camera and asks in Japanese, using the chain’s colloquial name: “FamiMa de hataraku?” (Will you come work at FamiMa?).

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© EL PAÍS

Beyond all the pageantry, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a strategic goal for his Washington visit – to undermine the American relationship with Japan. Xi succeeded, perhaps beyond his expectations. Japanese policy makers saw this coming. They arranged a brief meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly between Prime Minister Takaichi […]

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TOKYO – For decades, the US enjoyed a remarkable luxury: its two biggest creditors, Japan and China, kept showing up at Treasury auctions with checkbooks open. Now, Donald Trump’s trade wars, tariff threats and widening geopolitical confrontations raise an uncomfortable question: what happens if Washington’s most reliable bankers decide they’ve had enough? Granted, global investors […]

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