Back in the spring, Japanese television alleged that Shinzo Abe's ministers no longer stood when he entered the cabinet meeting room. Even worse, they kept chatting as the prime minister tried to start the meetings.
Such disrespectful behaviour in a political culture where small acts carry huge symbolic weight could mean only one thing, most concluded: Mr Abe had lost the respect of his troops.
After a string of scandals and 10 months in office that compare unfavourably to the rocket-fuelled years of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, Mr Abe is in deep trouble.
Despite gliding into office as Mr Koizumi's hand-picked successor amid Japan's best economic performance for a decade, the prime minister's approval ratings have dived from the mid-60s last September to 28 per cent, according to several recent surveys. A poll this month by the Asahi newspaper found a record 55 per cent of respondents unhappy with the coalition Liberal Democrat Party/New Komeito government he leads.
Those dismal figures could not have come at a worse time for Mr Abe, 52, who faces his first test with the voters tomorrow. The government must take 64 of the 121 seats up for grabs in the upper house or he may become part of the great pre-Koizumi political tradition of revolving-door prime ministers. Most predictions suggest it has no chance of reaching that target.
'It is now obvious that Mr Abe doesn't have the power to swing this election,' veteran political commentator Hirotaka Futatsuki said.