Approval rating for Japan's Ishiba cabinet climbs to 37 pct: poll

TOKYO - The approval rating for the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba rose to 37.0 percent from 31.7 percent in May, the latest Kyodo News survey showed.

In the telephone poll conducted for two days through Sunday, 88.5 percent of respondents expressed support for a shift away from the government's long-standing policy of curbing rice production, with rice prices doubling to record highs amid ongoing shortages, while only 7.6 percent were opposed, Kyodo News reported.

As average rice prices remained near record highs recently, Ishiba said last week that cabinet members handling the issue would discuss the market situation, and the talks could lead to a production increase to stabilize supply.

According to the survey, 56.9 percent see the government's response to surging rice prices as insufficient, while 36.6 percent said it was sufficient.

Meanwhile, the nationwide poll showed the disapproval rating for the Ishiba cabinet fell to 48.4 percent from 52.6 percent in the previous May 24-25 survey.

The survey called 503 randomly selected households with eligible voters and 3,407 mobile phone numbers, with valid responses coming from 427 household members and 622 mobile phone users.