Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has indicated that he'll be resigning shortly. According to Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano, Kan told cabinet members that "they should be ready to resign en masse next Tuesday," reports the Associated Press. "He said each minister should do the utmost to prepare for a smooth handover and take care of pending businesses," Yosano said. His resignation has been expected: in June after surviving a no-confidence vote, Kan said he'd step down after he'd taken "responsibility for the situation" of the recovery efforts from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear-facility crisis. Currently, as The New York Times relays from a Kyodo News poll, the Prime Minister's cabinet has an approval rating of about 15 percent. 

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Erik Hayden