June 1, 2009TOKYO - JAPAN'S Prime Minister Taro Aso has struggled with low approval ratings for many reasons and his smoking habit is one of them, a survey by a Tokyo civil group showed on Sunday.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Association on Smoking or Health released its annual survey on celebrities the public wants to see quit smoking to coincide with the World Health Organisation's World No Tobacco Day on Sunday.
Mr Aso was ranked fourth in the survey, collecting 118 votes.
'Whenever I see the creased face and hear the hoarse voice, I cannot help thinking about grim future of Japan,' read one comment on the association's website.
The survey also named US President Barack Obama, ranked 11th, with another comment urging the two national leaders to 'form a non-smoking alliance'.
Oscar-winning Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose pictures have earned many fans, many of whom are children, ranked third.
The first and second places were given to Japanese household names, one comic story-teller who hosts an educational health programme and a member of pop-group SMAP (Sports Music Assemble People), Takuya Kimura. -- AFP
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