The FINANCIAL -- TOKYO. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he has no plans of replacing top government officials regardless of the decline in popularity of his leadership, according to surveys held by Japanese media.

The poll published by Kyodo News on Sunday shows just above one-third (36%) of the Japanese support Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, whereas in September of last year that rating was over 70%.

"Regardless of the change of power, the people so far have not seen the results they hoped for...I take this very seriously," Hatoyama told journalists on March 8.

He added that he is "not thinking of making changes in the government."

Hatoyama's popularity has fallen drastically due to scandals with Japan's number two man, Ichiro Ozawa, after three of his current and former aides had been charged with misreporting political funds. Some 75% of Japanese in the poll have requested Ozawa to step down from his position as the leading party's Secretary-General.

Hatoyama has been Prime Minister of Japan since September 2009. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, he became president of the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party, in May 2009. He then led the party to victory in the August 2009 general election, defeating the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

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