KYOTO — Kansai business leaders expressed strong dissatisfaction Thursday with the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, charging that last summer's change of government has led to a lot of rhetoric but little action.
They called on the Democratic Party of Japan-led government to explain what it plans to do on a range of political, economic and social issues over the coming months in the runup to the Upper House election in July.
Meeting in Kyoto in the morning for an annual two-day gathering of about 500 local corporate, academic and political leaders, several speakers noted a recent survey showing that 76 percent of Kansai business leaders gave Hatoyama poor marks for his leadership in the past five months, especially in the areas of economic recovery and diplomacy. Only 8 percent of Kansai leaders judged the DPJ's policies as effective.