Criticism up on Japan PM's handling of nuke crisis
"TOKYO – Criticism of the Japanese government's handling of the crisis at a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant increased Saturday, with a new poll indicating three-quarters of the people disapprove and a key adviser quitting in protest.
A Kyodo News service poll released Saturday showed that Prime Minister Naoto Kan's support ratings were plunging.
The poll reported that 76 percent of the respondents think Kan is not exercising sufficient leadership in handling the country's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear triple crisis, up from 63.7 percent in the previous survey in late March.
It also showed 23.6 percent of respondents think Kan should resign immediately, up from 13.8 percent in the previous survey.
The nationwide telephone survey of 1,010 people eligible to vote was conducted Friday and Saturday. No margin of error was provided.
Toshiso Kosako, a professor at the University of Tokyo's graduate school and an expert on radiation exposure, announced late Friday that he was stepping down as a government adviser over what he lambasted as unsafe, slipshod measures.
Kan appointed Kosako after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan on March 11. The disaster left 26,000 people dead or missing and damaged several reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, setting off the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
In a tearful news conference, Kosako said he could not stay and allow the government to set what he called improper radiation limits of 20 millisieverts a year for elementary schools in areas near the plant.
"I cannot allow this as a scholar," he said. "I feel the government response has been merely to bide time."
Radiation Spreads throughout the Northern HemisphereRead It And Weep
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