Dec 17, 2008
| By Kwan Weng Kin, Japan Correspondent | |
 With his popularity falling, any more slip-ups could cost Japanese PM dearly |  |
On Monday, during an Upper House parliamentary committee session, he said in reference to his regular morning walks: 'There was a time when I was often mistaken for an elderly prowler during my walks.'
The comment had reporters wondering if it could be interpreted as a slur on the nation's elderly.
At the Prime Minister's daily 10-minute press opportunity with accredited Japanese media, one reporter asked him if he felt the remark 'lacked sensitivity'.
Mr Aso shot back. 'Why? I was called an elderly prowler. I was just relating a story.'
The Prime Minister's daily encounter with reporters may, in fact, also be partly contributing to his dwindling public support.
The daily meeting with the media, with television cameras rolling, was started by former premier Junichiro Koizumi.
The charismatic Mr Koizumi used the occasion to propagate his views, putting them into snappy sound bites that were eagerly lapped up by the media.
Even though Mr Koizumi was seen as a master in the art of communication, he had often complained that the media did him little justice, by giving him only a few seconds of air-time each day despite the effort he had put into his remarks.
Mr Aso's problem is that he does not come across well in the visual media.
His characteristic drawl - rather unusual for someone who was almost entirely brought up in Tokyo - is also somewhat of a turn-off for most Japanese.
Newspapers have arguably also sullied his image by sometimes publishing verbatim reports of his bantering with members of the press during which the Japanese leader often lapses into informal and rough language.
Mr Aso, who was born into a rich mine-owning family and has many illustrious forebears including a post-war prime minister, has often jokingly admitted to being 'born of good lineage but raised badly'.
But even more problematic for him is his tendency to put his foot in his mouth.
Of late, he has been careful about what he says in public, as a few weeks ago he received brickbats for a string of verbal faux pas, including one about the elderly not doing enough to keep themselves fit, which was seen as an insult to the sick.
Out to highlight his faults, the media has also accused him of mangling the pronunciation of several Chinese characters commonly used in Japanese.
As a precaution, Mr Aso's aides have taken to giving him notes to refer to when he speaks to the press.
But his choice of words, when he speaks off the cuff, often raises eyebrows too.
Inspecting a recycling project in Kitakyushu in southern Japan on Sunday, he remarked that environmental measures often did not work unless they were turned into viable businesses.
But in making the point, he used the word 'shinogi', which observers said is a term often used by the underworld when talking about raising money through illegal means.
In opinion polls published last week by major newspapers, Mr Aso's popularity plummeted to just above 20 per cent largely because of voter disappointment over the steps he has taken to combat the deepening recession.
Although he asserts that tackling the economy is his top priority and has unveiled two packages of measures worth a total of 50trillion yen (S$818 billion), he has inexplicably delayed procedures to seek parliamentary approval for the extra budget needed to implement those measures.
With the Japanese leader's approval rating now going downhill, analysts say that any further slips of the tongue he makes in future are likely to cost him even more popularity points.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_315411.html
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