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TOKYO (AP) - Less than a year ago, Japan's then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi swept into a summit in the United States at the height of his popularity, even making a side trip to Graceland where he won over his hosts with an Elvis Presley impersonation.
The summit this week between President Bush and Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, will be a much more sedate affair — for good reasons on both sides of the Pacific.
Since taking office last September, Abe's government has gone from mishap to mishap, with a support rating to show for it. He took office with more than 70 percent approval, a rating which has nose-dived to about 40 percent just a few months before crucial elections in the upper house of parliament.
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