Noda says Japan running out of time to hike taxes, restart reactors Noda's call for urgency hints at diminished faith in Tokyo's fractious political system, the backdrop to Noda's April 30 trip to Washington and a source of tension for officials in the Obama administration. No recent Japanese prime minister has lasted long enough in office to realize his major policy goals, and Noda faces much the same political combat - within his own part and among his party and others - that has undone his predecessors. In an interview with The Washington Post, Noda portrayed himself as a pragmatist who would appeal directly to the public, presenting a detailed case for his policies. A restart of nuclear reactors, for instance, would lower businesses" operating costs and prevent energy shortages in the sweltering summer, he said. A consumption tax increase would ease fears about Japan's ballooning debt, and prevent a potential collapse of the aging country's strained social security system. Noda acknowledged that such proposals are "not so popular among the people." Nor are they uniformly supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. Noda's cabinet approval rating this month fell below 30 percent, a level of unpopularity from which Japan's five previous, short-lived prime ministers never rebounded. Noda said it remains an open question whether politicians here can "stand firm for the national interest." "In that respect," he said, "I'm confronting a difficult situation." Noda will arrive in Washington at the end of April with little evidence of progress. Though Japan has spent almost two years debating its involvement in a regional free-trade pact that involves the United States, Tokyo still hasn't made a final decision on its participation. The so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership would open new markets for Japanese exporters, but it would also endanger the country's domestic agriculture industry, long protected by high tariffs. Noda had hoped to tell Obama during their meeting that Japan would join the pact, but only days ago acknowledged he couldn't, according to the Kyodo news agency. Negotiations also remain at a standstill on the relocation of an inner-city Marine station in Okinawa, with leaders in Tokyo unable to soften local opposition to the new base site, planned for a less populated part of the island. Analysts in Tokyo say that Noda will fight for the free trade and base issues only if he resolves his stated top priority - raising the consumption tax. Noda, a former finance minister who took office seven months ago, has vowed to stake his political life on the tax hike, which would be used to fund mounting social security costs. When Noda's cabinet submitted the tax bill late last month, however, several members resigned in protest. The opposition party, meanwhile, senses a political opportunity: Its leaders want to obstruct the bill, force Noda from office and then begin the debate anew. "We must do what we have to do now; otherwise social security is unsustainable," Noda said. We cannot let that happen. Currently, we are covering the cost by issuing deficit-covering bonds, passing the burden to the future generation," whose debts will be all the higher. Noda also laid out the case for restarting Japan's nuclear reactors, despite majority opposition to atomic energy in the wake of last year's Fukushima Daiichi accident. Currently, Japan is operating just one of its 54 reactors; most of the rest came offline for regularly scheduled maintenance. Because of opposition from local leaders and provincial governors, those temporary halts have turned into open-ended shutdowns. Noda said that if Japan cannot soon restart its reactors, particularly in the nuclear-dependent industrial region of Kansai, corporations will face potential power shortages and rising energy costs. "I think it's the government's responsibility that there won't be too much stress on the people and on mid- to small-sized corporations," Noda said. So we must explain to the people of Japan clearly with that in mind. Special correspondent Yuki Oda contributed to this report.