Abe's security initiatives will exact a political cost

ALMOST from the day he came to power at the end of 2012, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given the impression of being a man in a great hurry to get things done - rushing like a bull at a gate, say some - and now he is beginning to feel the backlash.

A survey conducted by Japan's Kyodo news agency at the end of last week showed that the support for Mr Abe and his Cabinet had plunged by nearly 10 percentage points since June to nearly 38 per cent - its lowest level since he took office - while the disapproval rate hit 52 per cent.

A few days before, the Abe government had rammed highly unpopular new security legislation through the lower house of Japan's Parliament, sparking (unusually for Japan) large and noisy protests from demonstrators over the alleged "sabotaging" of Japan's post-war pacifist constitution.