Rumour has it that Yasuo Fukuda, Japan’s embattled prime minister, has told close colleagues he would like to stay in power longer than Shinzo Abe, his predecessor, if only by a single day. That would mean hanging on for 366 days, taking him to the end of September, comfortably past the Group of Eight summit he is due to chair in July.

“That’s what he wants,” says Takao Toshikawa, a political analyst and editor of Inside Line. “But he may not get it.”