New polls show the Japanese public's trust in the country's government is now at its lowest point since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012. According to several media polls, support for Abe himself has declined due to an influence-peddling scandal where the prime minister is accused of favoring a friend in a land deal involving a school. 

Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has denied media reports alleging that she was directly involved in the scandal, deliberately concealing controversial mission logs of the Ground Self-Defense Force's peacekeeping activities in South Sudan. The Defense Ministry has stated that the logs have been discarded and could not be found. 

The logs were subsequently found in digital form, but government sources close to the matter said that it was decided by top officials at a meeting on February 15, that the facts should remain private, and that Inada herself agreed to conceal the logs. 

The opposition said the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's hold on parliament looks less certain now than it did a few months ago, as public disapproval mounts and factions within the group grow.