(People stage a rally in front of the Japanese prime minister's office in Tokyo on Nov. 28, 2019, accusing the Shinzo Abe administration of using a publicly funded cherry blossom viewing party for election campaigning for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.)

TOKYO - The approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has fallen 6.0 points from November to 42.7 percent, marking the second straight month of decline, amid criticism he used taxpayers' money to entertain supporters at a cherry-blossom viewing event, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.