shery ahn spoke earlier with nhk world's senior political commentator masayo nakajima, who has been keeping an eye on developments for us. >> how is yoshihiko noda expected to fare? >> well, the prime minister is expected to fend off his competition and stay in power. the other contenders do not have high profile. but his days as prime minister could be numbered. many voters didn't support his plan to double the consumption tax. others didn't agree with his decision to restart two nuclear reactors this summer. his approval rating has fallen to 30%. he has passed a package of financial and tax reforms. in exchange, he promised to call a general election, but he doesn't want to. he'll be forced to dissolve the lower house between october and december, i think. he needs the opposition's support to pass budget-related bills and keep government services funded. you know, the democrats took power or office three years ago, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the ldp. they promised change. but some say they haven't delivered. >> and you mention the ldp. what about them? who

shery ahn spoke earlier with nhk world's senior political commentator masayo nakajima, who has been keeping an eye on developments for us. >> how is yoshihiko noda expected to fare? >> well, the prime minister is expected to fend off his competition and stay in power. you know, the other contenders do not have high profile. but his days as a prime minister could be numbered. many voters didn't support his plan to double the consumption tax. others didn't agree with his decision to restart two nuclear reactors this summer. his approval rating has fallen to about 30%. it helped noda pass his package of financial and tax reforms. in exchange, he promised to call a general election, but he doesn't want to. he'll be forced to dissolve the lower house between october and december, i think. he needs the opposition's support to pass budget-related bills and keep government services funded. you know, the democrats took power or office three years ago, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the ldp. they promised change. but some say they haven't delivered. >> and you mention the

for more on this story shery ahn spoke earlier with nhk world's political commentator masayo nakajima. >> what's next for the prime minister? >> noda will likely be forced to call a general election between november and january. you know, the opposition helped noda pass his package of tax and social security reforms. in exchange, he promised to dissolve the lower house soon, but he doesn't want to. his approval rating has fallen to about 30%, and his democratic party has lost support too. many voters opposed his plan to double the consumption tax. others didn't agree with his decision to restart two nuclear reactors this summer. but no election means no opposition support. and noda needs that again to pass budget-related bills in order to keep government services funded. >> so if he does call a general election, then what kind of challenges would he face? >> well, noda's dpj is trailing in the polls behind the main opposition in the former ruling ldp and the new party, japan restoration party, which is led by the mayor of osaka. toru hashimoto is attracting attention with his populist

masayo nakajima, nhk world, chiba. >>> and for an update on the weather forecast, here's mai shoji. >> clear skies across much of the eastern portion of japan. we may even see some thunderstorms. it will be persisting into the friday afternoon hours. some of the eastern portions as well could find some unstable weather, especially in the afternoon, evening hours due to the combination of the very humid air on the surface and the upper-level cold air. now, across much of the southwestern islands of japan, another different story here due to this stationary boundary that is stretching all the way into southern china. so you'll be seeing some storms on the very severe side, frequent lightning, damaging winds and even some sudden burst of showers to watch out for. and that is also here in the southeastern sides, especially south of yongzhe river. up to 120 millimeters in the next few hours. the tropical depression that is sitting east of the philippines looks like it's going to be intensifying due to the very warm water. the sea surface temperature is over 29 degrees as of now, so that wi