nhk world's tomoko kamata has been listening to some of the conversations. tomoko, our poll suggests 51% of voters approve of how the prime minister handled things but we can't obviously ignore those who disapprove. 42%. what are some of abe's critics saying? >> well a number of them have been focusing on the trip abe took last month to the middle east. he announced in cairo that japan would give $200 million to help nations struggling with islamic state. this was money for humanitarian aid and infrastructure for the most part. but the militants apparently viewed it as japan getting involved in the fight against them. even though the japanese constitution forbids military intervention abroad. so islamic state demanded the same amount of money in ransom for the two hostages. some lawmakers are criticizing the timing of abe's announcement. they say government officials believe some reason islamic state kidnapped both yukawa and goto. >> translator: knowing that the japanese were being held captive, did you not take into account that making such a speech could

nhk world's tomoko kamata has more. >> reporter: the u.s. began air strikes in iraq in august and in syria the following month. commanders say pilots have carried out about 2,000 attacks. they say they've destroyed hundreds of military facilities and killed several thousand fighters. they claim the number of islamic state commanders has been cut in half. fighting on the ground is also picking up. for four months militants had to wage a battle for the town of ayn al arab in northern syria. they were hoping to gain a stronghold along the border with turkey. the violence forced about 200,000 refugees to flee across the border. a u.s. military official said kurdish fighters were able to beat back the militants from the city. then, last month, islamic state fighters began another siege. this one on the oil city of kirkuk in northern iraq. coalition pilots hit back with more than 30 air strikes. u.s. officials issued a statement on tuesday saying the operation was a success. >> so they are losing ground they're more defensive, they're more worried