Awwal 10, 1432 / April 14, 2011, SPA -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan faced a barrage of criticism Thursday not only from the opposition but also from his own party, according to dpa. Kan has sought the help of both sides in dealing with the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), bolstered by election victories on Sunday, called for the premier's resignation. The premier "is now entering a time to decide on whether to resign," LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki said. Tanigaki slammed the premier for his poor handing of relief operations since the disaster and the subsequent crisis at a nuclear power plant. "To continue the leadership will be extremely unfortunate for the people," Tanigaki said. Tanigaki implied that the party might submit a binding no-confidence motion against Kan's cabinet in the powerful lower house or a nonbinding anti-Kan censure motion in the upper house. Calls for Kan's departure also came within his own Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Upper house Speaker Takeo Nishioka urged the premier to quit, saying Kan had failed to handle the aftermath of the disaster and the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which had been leaking radiation since being damaged in the tsunami and the strongest quake ever recorded in tremor-prone Japan. Ichiro Ozawa, former DPJ leader and one of the most influential figures in Japanese politics, criticized the premier for his lack of leadership, which, Ozawa said, "could lead to further disasters." The criticism came two days after the government announced that the accident level at the Fukushima plant was raised to 7, the worst on an international scale, after the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency determined that the plant has been releasing massive amounts of radioactive materials, which are posing a threat to human health and the environment over a wide area. Kan was hiding from the public and the international community, Minoru Morita, a Tokyo-based political analyst, charged. "He is absolutely irresponsible for that," Morita said. "He is the nation's leader." Even before the March disaster, Kan had already been unpopular, facing calls for his resignation. The DPJ and opposition lawmakers had muted their criticism immediately after disaster and as the nuclear crisis and rebuilding began, but another DPJ defeat in nationwide local elections Sunday triggered them to boost their calls for Kan's resignation.
