13 lawmakers dine at PM's office building amid pandemic

I understand providing a meal if you are attending an all day meeting . . . . but for 40 minutes?

Couldn't these guys meet via Zoom/Teams/Skype like they are forcing the rest of the country to do?

Sakai said the 13 attendees had divided into four groups, with some eating in another room. They later held a 40-minute meeting, exchanging views on parliamentary affairs with all attendees wearing masks.

No major problem. You can't parallel this case to the health ministry guys' wild party at a local restaurant breaching the measures.

I dont see any problem at all with that.

In my company and I guess in thousands other companies too, coworkers are going to the cantine and eat lunch together.

And more than 13 people.

In my company lunch time is split into different times, but groups going to the cantine are more than 100 peoples each group.

We are all sitting seperate, have shields on the tables between us and windows and doors are open. But we are more than 100 peoples in the same room at the same time.

Therefore I dont see any problem what these 13 peoples did.

This is just another media hype, looking for something to bash again japanese politicians.

I wish I could have broken bread with these lawmakers. Dang!

There’s no need to limit the number of diners to four as long as each diner is shielded from each other’s droplets by plastic sheets and acrylic panels. The mere fact that the LDP lawmakers dined together is hardly newsworthy.

People need to eat.

In big groups, in the middle of a surge in pandemic? Really?

Right, I eat my "bento" in an office with around 30 other people, every single day, and no one writes about it in the newspapers!

This is pushing the meaning of the word "dine" to quite the extreme!

On Tuesday, health minister Norihisa Tamura apologized for a late-night party involving 23 ministry officials held at a restaurant in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district last week despite the metropolitan government's request for shorter business hours to curb the pandemic.

Right... THIS is what the problem is, but nicely hidden away at the end!

I think it more of the optics than anything else. The government tells people don't eat in large groups, and don't do it after a certain time, but they continue to flout the rules themselves. Then, how can you ask or force others to stay home.

As meals go by this may very well not be as risky as the previous scandal, but the lack of consideration as how this is viewed by the population is terrifying.

It should be obvious that doing anything that could be seen as contrary to the recommendations should be avoided in order to provide the best possible example, this is not acceptable.

"Sakai said the 13 attendees had divided into four groups, with some eating in another room. They later held a 40-minute meeting, exchanging views on parliamentary affairs with all attendees wearing masks."

and

The central government's coronavirus task force recommends limiting dining to a maximum of four people from a close circle, such as family members and colleagues, and wearing masks while conversing.

Well for the PHDs in math. That means there were 3 groups of 3 and one group of 4 and they were wear masks. They were following the guidelines. Right?

I’m sure any infection would be contained within their tight circle.

It is optics. And less than wise. Suga has never led by example. Why bother beginning now.

Reading this, I don't see any problems here. People sitting in small groups seated far from one another with masks on is what takes place at lunch daily in millions of businesses all over Japan. This made the news because they're trying to tie this in to the unrelated fiasco that happened last week. Weak.

Yeah, we all need to eat, but is it not possible to also practise a bit of social distancing? If the person next to me is infected, it doesn't matter of the group is small.

Well for the PHDs in math. That means there were 3 groups of 3 and one group of 4 and they were wear masks. They were following the guidelines. Right?

Wrong, and you don’t need a PHD in mathematics for that, because there are many other possible distributions of groups, for instance the worst one 2,2,2,7. lol

13 people isn't a big group. Divided into four groups. Less than some restaurants. Spaced out in two rooms.

That is assuming the guy is speaking the truth, judging from past cases , I won't believe a word what he says.

If they do not take their own measures seriously, why should we?

Either lead by example or shut up.

Ok guys, put the pitchforks down. Getting a bit ridiculous. 13 lawmakers having bentos with the PM! Scandalous...

This ain’t news, unless you have smelled blood and got all excited by it.

They have to eat. I see thousands of people in Kanagawa and Tokyo eating out everyday. Good to see things going back to normal.

They have the right to dine on our money, provide jobs.