Photo Gallery 'The Irritable Kan'
Japanese are impressed by the soldiers working round the clock in regions devastated by the tsunami. The more than 400 technicians and workers on the grounds of the Fukushima nuclear power plant are also viewed as national heroes.
Ever since the disaster swept Japan, Kan has stopped wearing suits and usually appeared in public in freshly starched blue overalls. His change of outfit did not convince the newspaper Mainichi which wrote "instead of parading around in crisis uniforms....the politicians should finally produce results."
Emperor Akihito's response is more to the island nation's liking. He has reacted with modest gestures rather than grand words and poses. In this picture, taken on March 30, he meets survivors from Fukushima Prefecture at an emergency shelter in Tokyo. He kneels on the ground in front of the people sitting on the floor so as to be at eye level with the victims.
