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TOKYO, JAPAN - JAPANESE Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda got an unlikely gift on his 72nd birthday on Wednesday - a request from his subordinates not to show up for work.
Mr Fukuda went on his first extended vacation since taking office in September in the wake of a gruelling few months that included hosting last week's summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers.
'Since I became prime minister, everyone's been very busy, with no vacation,' Mr Fukuda said of employees at the Cabinet Office.
'They will take a vacation for the first time in a long while, I think. I've been ordered not to hang around here,' he said.
Mr Fukuda, Japan's oldest premier in nearly two decades, plans to take six days off relaxing with his family at his private residence in Tokyo.
Japanese media were speculating that Mr Fukuda would use his holiday to ponder a cabinet reshuffle in a bid to reverse dwindling public support.
Asked whether he would consider a shake-up, Mr Fukuda responded enigmatically: 'I will think about what to think about.'
Mr Fukuda, a political veteran, took over in hopes of reviving his Liberal Democratic Party after it lost control of one house of parliament.
But Mr Fukuda's honeymoon was short-lived, with the opposition last month slapping him with an unprecedented censure motion over an unpopular new medical plan for seniors.
Mr Fukuda has previously said that his tips for stress relief were sleeping and the occasional glass of wine. He is also a fan of classical music. -- AFP
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