Just a short follow-up on what Richard wrote. Richard reminded us that "poll after poll has shown that 80-85% of the public says Noda has not explained his policies."

Here's my question: Has there ever been a Prime Minister in Japan that the public considered to have sufficiently explained his policy? I cannot remember a single poll in which this question has not produced a large majority saying "No". Prime Ministers could probably spend 24/7 talking about policies and the Japanese "public" would still feel uninformed.

Best,

Axel