21 February 2002, 09:44  Poll shows 76% view Japan PM as anti-reformer

TOKYO, Feb 21 - In the latest sign of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sagging popularity, more than three-quarters of respondents to an Internet poll on Thursday said they felt he had turned into an anti-reformer. The poll was compiled after Makiko Tanaka, Japan's outspoken former foreign minister, on Wednesday accused Koizumi of joining the ranks of the anti-reformers he had vowed to fight, echoing growing public doubts about his commitment to change. As of 9:45 a.m. (0045 GMT), 76 percent of a total 3,966 respondents to an online survey conducted by Kyodo news agency and Yahoo! Japan that began on Wednesday said they agreed with Tanaka's accusation that Koizumi had become one of the "forces of resistance". Sixteen percent disagreed and seven percent were undecided. Tanaka, grilled in parliament over the events that led Koizumi to fire her last month, told lawmakers on Wednesday: "He told me to act freely, but every time I tried to do something, I felt like someone was stepping on my skirt and I couldn't walk ahead. "Hasn't he himself turned into one of the forces of resistance?" Koizumi sacked Tanaka, one of Japan's most popular politicians, to end her feud with top bureaucrats and a ruling party politician known for his clout with the Foreign Ministry. But public ire over Tanaka's dismissal eroded Koizumi's once sky-high popularity ratings and cast doubt on whether he can forge ahead with the painful economic reforms many see as vital to restoring the world's second-biggest economy to growth.

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