Japan's new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (center) and his cabinet members arrive for a photo shoot after their first meeting in Tokyo yesterday.AFP

In a boost for Fukuda, a poll released yesterday by Kyodo News agency showed the approval rating for his new Cabinet at 57.8 percent - almost 20 percentage points higher than his unpopular predecessor Shinzo Abe, who resigned suddenly two weeks ago.

Fukuda, 71, known as a subtle and wily compromiser who studied backroom politics at the knee of his prime minister father, cast himself as the steady hand that Japan needs after Abe's rocky, scandal-scarred one-year term.