Japan PM Abe's support slips, majority oppose nuclear restart
Source: Reuters
Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has slipped to just over 30 percent and a majority oppose the planned restart of a nuclear reactor that went offline after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, a poll by the Mainichi newspaper showed on Monday.
The three-point decline to 32 percent - the lowest since Abe returned to office in December 2012 - comes as voters fret over a shift in security policy that would end a ban on the military fighting overseas to defend a friendly country. That could let Japan's troops fight abroad for the first time since World War Two.
Abe's ratings began dropping sharply after scholars told a parliamentary panel in June the legislation would violate Japan's post-war, pacifist constitution. Abe says the change will boost deterrence and make war less likely but critics fear Japan could get embroiled in a U.S.-led conflict.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents to the weekend survey opposed Kyushu Electric Power Co's restart of a reactor at its Sendai plant in southwest Japan, set for Tuesday. Thirty percent supported the reboot, the first in nearly two years, which will reopen the nuclear sector.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-japan-abe-support-idUSKCN0QF0A820150810
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