Majority urge election before tax hikes to cover Japan defense budget rise - The Japan Times

Nearly 78% of respondents called for a wide predetermination if the authorities is to rise taxes to screen a important summation successful Japan’s defence spending, a Kyodo News canvass showed Sunday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has travel nether pressure, with 77.9% urging him to question elector support connected the issue, arsenic Tokyo is aiming to forge up with its biggest defence buildup programme since World War II amid China’s emergence and North Korean threats. Meanwhile, 19.3% said they spot nary specified need.

In the telephone canvass held Saturday and Sunday, the enactment complaint for Kishida’s Cabinet stood astatine 33.4%, compared with 33.1% successful December, the lowest since its motorboat successful 2021. The disapproval standing was astatine 49.9%, down 1.6 points.