Prime Minister Naoto Kan continues to be criticized by members of his own party and the opposition, as well as business groups for his lack of leadership during the current crisis. What more could he

..this Ozawa and Hatoyama can be a good comedian,I guess its time for them to change their careers,they are so good on making people laugh!

I just can't understand the Japanese Politics,they are not suppose to receive a salary from the people's taxes,my God!..they are just shouting everytime I see them on the news,anybody can do that!hahaha!..so weird!

Kan simply needs to offer up some cabinet positions to people from factions outside of his own. It wouldn't resolve his low approval ratings, and the internal dissent against his betrayal of campaign promises, but it would put a lid on outright mutiny that still remains a risk, and get everyone back on task.

The guy shouldn't be looking to start fights with 48% of his own party in a hung parliament after a disaster of this scale. Can has the power to fix things within his own party - he should stop being so stubborn treating his allies like opposition members and bring them in.

It's a shame to those who continually criticize PM Kan, they don't even have tha "BALLS" to step- up when Kan asked for their cooperation to rebuild the Tohoku region and no concrete plans what to do with the mega disasters. Instead, they are too busy finding faults... what else is new? "Empty can strikes loud indeed!" Kan is not only a PM for the Tohoku region but as a whole... the country of Japan! The G8 meeting represents PMs and Presidents of member countries, so it would be improper if he can't attend! Stay focus PM Kan!

He should be doing exactly what he is doing, and not letting these idiots get to him, because whatever he does or doesn`t do, they are going to attack him regardless. I would love to know how they would have fared in this position. They have no solutions, and are simply using this crisis to further their own political ambitions which to me is just despicable.

I think he has done a lot better than they are making out. He was the only one that stood up to TEPCO and abused them for holding back the facts. It is just standard Jp politics to sling poop at whoever is holding the catcher's mitt. It wouldn't matter if Mickey Mouse was PM. he would still be copping the same flack.

"Kan is the best they've had since Koizumi left"

Bring back Koizumi! But he won't come back. So, agree with tmarie - stay Kan, please stay!

Kan is the best they've had since Koizumi left. Kan leaves who do we get?? No one has stepped up and no one worth handing all the crap over to. Stay Kan, please stay!!

PM Kan is doing his best during such unprecedented tragedy. If I have a suggestion to offer is: get a new communication team. Since the crisis erupted, I have the feeling that The Kan administration have been playing catch up. Edano san is the only exception.

I just don't see how he is any more incompetent than the half-dozen or so PMs that preceded him in the past few years, or any of those criticizing him.

Kan doesn't need all this aggravation.

The opposition & members of his own party need to shut the........UP!

I have never beena fan of any J-politician, but Kan is doing pretty well considering the vast sea of incompetents, slackers & just plain imbeciles that surround him, I cant see anyone who might do better!

Recently we this total MORON named Takeo Nishioka screaming for him to quit & for some bizarre reason he gets a lot of press & the imbecile cant for the life of him say what was done wrong, what HE wud do, present any sort of plan for the future yet this twit nishioka gets all this attention.....

I have been down on Jpn bigtime for at least 5yrs now & the way the idiot swarms of underlings are acting these days I cant see anything positive in the future here, I hope it doesnt get worse but wont be surprised if it does!

Bottom line is leave Kan in, let him out in the world, Japan MUST show it is open, still alive, still worth looking at, if Kan were to stay home Japan will definitely suffer more.

Japans politicians & govt tyoes really need to improve their game, be REAL team players, otherwise we are in for a hell of a lotta PAIN!!

We need a lot of people to stop bitching & get their acts together!

Take over responsibility for the nuclear disaster-to still have a private company handling this 'national' disaster is a dereliction of duty.

All his politician critics just want a chance to hold the king position of PM for a while. Of course the PM should be at the G8. he should also show leadership but that is too much to ask for any politician who arrived in their position of power due to family circumstances not their own merit.

For example, as head of the nuclear crisis center, Kan might stay in Fukushima where melt-down or -through have already occurred at three nuclear reactors. If he has to attend G8, he should at least stand with a bit grim and sober face beside Merkel and Berlusconi instead of looking so gleeful behind Clinton.

What's done is done. So maybe there was some confusion in getting accurate information from TEPCO's on-site people. Clearly it was an problem within TEPCO, not the administration. So would the meltdowns not have happened if the water had been turned off? Probably not. But looking back, it's clear the worst-case scenario reported by Edano wasn't even close to what was actually happening at the plant. Reality had already surpassed the "worst-case scenario".

do they have a better plan? do they even have a plan? these yokels are like little kids in the sand box. they should take their skate keys and go home.

That is what kills me. All of these people screaming "off with his head", but I have not heard how any of them would do things differently. If you listen to the LDP, Kan should have fixed the Fukushima problem single handedly by now and got the economy back into 2nd place in the world by now. That is how silly these people are. No concrete steps, just criticize. If someone came up with a plan or strategy that was workable, I might listen to it, but this is just childish.

Lack of leadership in Japan came into existence before Adam/Eve were born. Please do not blame Kan.

poor information, poor advice,incompident officals does not make mr kan a bad prime minister. those who complain the most are those who did the most damage. he is the best man for this this situation

he is doing his rightful job as president: representing and speaking on behalf of his country where it matters most. the real issue is what he is telling those people and his body language. Any empty promises, mumbling of words is taken seriously. It is clear the poor guy had not been drilled on crisis procedures and communications...therefore, it is obvious anything now seems knee-jack stuff. Maybe kan should have been more interested at the messages coming from his government officials and TEPCO. Also, too many decisions were left to TEPCO. The latter ended up winning the 'lying' prize of the year, which has dented Japan's government image as a reliable source of information. For starters, people outside japan do not know the difference between Japan government and TEPCO. Many believe that TEPCO is the nuclear energy arm of the government. Many even think it is a monopoly on power supply. Then i think he is moving too fast on reassurance about safety of japanese food! /he should give it some time until maybe the stricken nuclear plants' radiation is brought under control. All this shows he may not be having good advisers and of course his PR machinery is wanting. Kan as a person seems to be trying his level best..something is just wrong with the crisis management strategy of both government and TEPCO and even worse, seems uncoordinated.