TOKYO : The cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama enjoys approval ratings of more than 70 percent a month after taking office, surveys showed Monday.

The cabinet, installed on September 16 after Hatoyama's centre-left Democratic Party ousted the conservative government, received an approval rating of 73 percent, a poll by the Nikkei business daily and TV Tokyo showed.

While the approval rating stands two percentage points lower than the previous poll, the cabinet's efforts in the past month got the thumbs-up from 61 percent of respondents, according to the survey of 1,008 voters.

Another poll taken by the Mainichi daily said Hatoyama's approval rating after the first month stood at a comfortable 72 percent, although it dropped by five percentage points from the previous poll.

More than 70 percent of respondents endorsed the Hatoyama administration's efforts to tighten budgets, according to the survey of 1,067 voters.

As part of its war on waste in the public sector, the new government announced last week that it would freeze spending of about 2.93 trillion yen (33 billion dollars) from the previous administration's extra budget.

Hatoyama's government plans to use the money to fund its campaign promises, such as expanded childcare allowances, free public high school education and an end to expressway tolls.

It has scrapped some projects including a planned national media arts centre aimed at promoting manga cartoons and animated films, as well as an expansion of highways and public housing development programmes.

The Mainichi daily also reported the Hatoyama administration in the past month has embarked on about half of its political agenda, or 178 items promised during the August election campaign and in its forming of a three-party coalition.

- AFP /ls