InsideJapan News Network

Japan's prime minister Taro Aso has dismissed talk of a snap election, instead calling for focus on recovering the country's economy.

The leader is struggling for voters and the latest Asahi Shimbun opinion poll recorded the popularity of the 68-year-old's cabinet at 34 per cent.

Prime Minister Aso, who took office on September 24th when former leader Yasuo Fukada resigned, said the government's priority is to ensure its supplementary budget passes through parliament.

"I presume that what people are most concerned about right now are the prospects for the economy," he said.

The media poll showed the opposition party, Democratic Party of Japan, as the choice of 40 per cent of voters if a snap election was called.

In related news, Nariaki Nakayama resigned from the cabinet last Sunday just four days after being appointed Japan’s transport minister in Prime Minister Aso's cabinet.

It followed a series of controversial remarks Mr Nakayama made to the nation’s media - one of which included his labelling of Japan’s largest teaching union as "a cancer".