Koike and Suga said Olympics is going smoothly while Covid-19 hits over 10,000 daily cases
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike met last weekend. After the meeting, they smugly concluded that “the Tokyo Olympics are going smoothly.” However, prior to this blase comment, the coronavirus crisis was hitting Japan once more to a higher degree concerning the irresponsible policies of Suga and Koike.
Koike, after meeting Suga, commented “We also agreed that the Tokyo Olympics are going very smoothly.”
Yet by Wednesday, Tokyo hit over 3,000 daily infections of the coronavirus (Covid-19). Similarly, the neighboring prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama all reached new highs. In Kanagawa, for example, this prefecture reached over 1,000 new cases yesterday and today a new high was declared. Therefore, with PCR tests still being relatively low in Japan, it highlights the spread of the Delta variant (first noticed in India) throughout the country.
Tokyo today reached a new daily fresh high of 3,856 cases. Hence, so much for the Olympics “going smoothly.”
Shockingly, Suga and Koike took a massive gamble with the health of the nation by focusing on the Olympics. The chief medical advisor to Suga notified him about the severity of the situation. Hence, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Suga and Koike have wasted vast sums of money on the Olympics despite the ongoing international coronavirus crisis. Indeed, in recent months Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and other nations in Asia have been hit hard compared with last year. However, they have ignored this angle created by the highly infectious Delta (Indian) variant.
Suga and Koike just keep on announcing that people should refrain from going out when possible and please do telework. Of course, vast numbers of people don’t have the option of doing telework. Also, when people witness Suga enjoying exquisite meals in England during the recent G-7 meeting – and Koike and Suga enjoying special meetings with dignitaries concerning the Olympics – then people feel cheated by the ruling elites.
Former leader Shinzo Abe gave all people residing in Japan 100,000 yen last year during the early period of the coronavirus crisis. At this time, a sense of togetherness existed and at least the government was helping ordinary people. However, Suga cares little about the working poor, temporary workers, the unemployed, marginalized female workers, and others who are struggling with the psychological and economic convulsions of the coronavirus crisis.
Workers in better situations – but who are tied to sectors under enormous strain – are worried about losing their jobs. Special perks, including free transportation, have been curtailed. Also, bonuses are down for many workers – if not stopped entirely this year. Therefore, with 10,000 daily coronavirus infections announced for the first time, the economic and psychological angle is increasing.
Modern Tokyo Times recently said, “The recent holiday period means that infections in Tokyo and in other parts of Japan are likely to increase this week. Hence, it seems that Suga and Koike deem infections, deaths, and straining the health care sector again with being Olympic collateral damage.”
People feel abandoned and alienated by the ruling elites of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under Suga because he does little for ordinary people in Japan.
Suga provided international vaccines to other nations during a period when the internal vaccination program was very slow. Indeed, when cities like Osaka demanded more vaccines, Japan was sending them to other nations. Therefore, the Suga administration during the ongoing coronavirus crisis – and Koike to a lower level concerning Tokyo – can’t see ordinary people in Japan. Instead, they are both in their collective Olympic and LDP bubbles.
People need hope and support from sincere politicians. However, at the moment, the political elites have blinkers on.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
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