Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to stay in his post despite a crushing defeat for his ruling camp in an upper house election.
Voters outraged at government scandals and bungling of pension records stripped Mr Abe's coalition of its upper house majority in his first big electoral test since taking office ten months ago.
But a spokesman for Mr Abe insisted today that the defeat reflected voter anger at certain mistakes, not a rejection of its basic policies. "We believe we have the public's understanding on our basic direction," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.
Mr Abe has pledged to boost Japan's global security profile, rewrite its pacifist constitution and ensure growth while pursuing economic reforms and cutting the huge public debt.
His bloc will not be ousted from government by the upper house defeat, since it has a huge majority in the more powerful lower chamber, but the prime minister is expected to shake up his cabinet in an effort to get a fresh start.
The once-popular Mr Abe still faces pressure to quit from within his own Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of the past five decades. However, a lack of suitable successors in the LDP could help him survive, analysts said.