As Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe spirals downward in the polls and the usually docile media turn up the heat, critics have sought to explain the reasons for his waning popularity after just four months in office. On the international front Mr Abe has exceeded expectations, making headway on repairing frayed relations with China and South Korea. But at home he has been a disappointment, appearing deaf to voters' anxieties and disengaged on economic policy.

Mr Abe's problem is that he acts like an old-school politician. His cabinet is mired in scandals that have already claimed two top aides. In addition, conservative politicians ousted from the ruling Liberal Democratic party for opposing the reform agenda of Junichiro Koizumi, Mr Abe's flamboyant predecessor, have been welcomed back to the party, shredding Mr Abe's image as a reformer and convincing the public that Japan is returning to politics as usual. This opportunistic move has made Mr Abe look desperate to improve the LDP's uncertain prospects in July elections for the upper house of the Diet or parliament. Mr Abe also suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Japan's powerful public works lobby over some proposed reforms, caving into the party's old guard and their pork barrel ways.