Abe, LDP under fire for holding party amid heavy rain warning

Whhat kind of joking govt, only good at cheating.

The executions of the seven death row inmates were carried out the day after the gathering.

Sounds to me more like a celebration of this than anything else!

@simon g

Do you really think that Abe didn’t know about the executions the night before they happened?

It's not dumb. If this had been an earthquake or volcanic eruption - something out of the blue - it would have been understandable, but to party when one of your own agencies issues a clear warning of impending disaster is unforgivable. We're paying these people, after all.

This is really unfair to LDP and PM Abe and his Cabinet.

I think it's unfair to the victims and their families.

How were they to know this would turn into a once in 100 years disaster?

They could have cancelled the events. The lack of respect towards the ordinary people of this country is despicable.

Abe, Kamokawa and the Nippon Kaigi allstars having a nice little jolly-up to celebrate keeping the names of all those then high-ranking LDP bigwigs who colluded with Aum out of the official history. Shintaro banzai!

Thursday was July 5th. This English headline was posted at 5:17pm.

"Heavy rains force evacuation of thousands in Japan; one killed"

fwiw, the article warns of landslides, but not flooding. I think the widespread flooding was genuinely "unexpected".

Sounds to me more like a celebration of this than anything else!

executions aren't announced prior to the event. Try again? How about self centered politicians caught being themselves?

Ganbare Japan!Today  08:16 am JST

I agree with other posters. 

One other poster.

SpeedToday  10:06 am JST

If they had to cancel every party because of heavy rain forecasts they'd never be able to get together.

How absolutely terrible. I'm so moved by their plight that I may need a few hours to reflect and compose my thoughts.

@Ganbare Japan!: No one is agreeing with you, everyone with Abe only thinks of himself and how to keep his friends rich.

Alfie Noakes - that sounds interesting. Got any links?

No, but if you have a dig around I'm sure you can find something about a high ranking LDP bod, well-known for his liking of esoteric cult religions founded by former war criminals, who was ordered to resign from the Diet or face the music for his financial and political support of Aum. Cough Ishihara Cough

Well I’m sure if Abby decided to put on his national disaster suit and goes around the hard hit areas and waves to those affected this whole thing will be washed away and forgotten like all his other scandals!

Hardly anyone knew this rain front was going to cause such a disaster.

Predicting rain over weeks is difficult but within a day is easy - just look at JMA's radar. I agree that the degree of the disaster was beyond anyone's expectations, but here in Kumamoto, I was on my toes. One might expect that government officials, who we pay to be on their toes for such events, might have responded with more alacrity.

Worse still Abe was clearly drunk at the emergency meeting held at 11pm that night.

Better think it will happen every year, more govt. instructions to local regions where would be a cause of disasters, less govt. slogans of Japan's LDP are the "saviors" for anything better in Japan. LDP lawmakers must revolt this current government to represent us citizens and not to stay in a position like Suga just to obey Abe's cabinet defending.

The elite party while those who pay them, suffer. Governmence LDP style.

I'd say everybody got caught flat footed. The evacuations should have started at the first sign of trouble. Doubt the party had anything to do with it.

It seems like almost every day there is some sort of weather warning and it's got to the point where I just turn it off. They have been warning of a devastating Nankai earthquake for some years now. I think nobody should have any fun, ever, just in case the earthquake happens the following day.

The LDP upper echeon’s grip on reality is always different from the nation in general's common sense.

For example:  (1) They take April 28, the day San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed in 1951, to be the day Japan recovered its sovereignty. In reality it wasn't. U.S. Occupation Forces remained with bases guaranteed and secure while Okinawa was severed from the mainland, undergoing a harsh military control for another 27 years. Yet they celebrate the day as "sovereignty recovery day."  (2) They colluded with Washington, agreeing to the Futenma-to-Henoko relocation, parroting what Washington dictates to them for justifying the relocation: it reduces a potential danger the current site poses and the relocation of the base within Okinawa invariably retains an overall deterrence capability.

We all know these are shenanigans just as the binge.

Prime Minister Mori's resignation came after he continued golfing when he learned of the American sub hitting the Japanese fishing trawler, Killing the 9 or so on board. Surely this is FAR worse, especially since the people in charge of disasters were in attendance. Saying, "We could not have foreseen the extent of the disaster" is a lame excuse. Whenever there is a warning of any kind, city officials, teachers, and other "yakuin" MUST go to the local City Hall or schools and be there to prepare, notify, and Watch what happens. You would think the MINISTER would be doing the same, never mind the Prime Minister and others.

Alfie Noakes - that sounds interesting. Got any links?

Doubt the party had anything to do with it.

You Shinzo wasn't paying any attention to it.

Thanks for this article. Honestly, as the national disaster unfolded, I was wondering where he was? He will probably pull the emperor from his bed and send him to Okiyama.

And this scandal is likely why they're rushing more htan normal for reconstruction.

This insensitivity reminds me of Peter Brooke, the then secretary of state for Northern Ireland, singing on The Late, Late. Mere hours after 7 people were murdered by an IRA bomb, back in January 1992.

He was out on his ear less than 3 months later.

Such thoughtless behaviour in the light of any tragedy, does not play well with the public.

Oh, come on. Hardly anyone knew this rain front was going to cause such a disaster.

I live in these parts that had damage and no one around here expected as much.

During the summer/rainy season up through fall we get lots of torrential rain.

If they had to cancel every party because of heavy rain forecasts they'd never be able to get together.

"It shows (the LDP members) do not attend to their duties from the viewpoint of protecting citizens' lives and livelihoods."

Well actually it's not their duty to protect lives and livelihoods.

That's the responsibility of we adults.

The responsibility of the politicians is to represent the wishes of citizens, as they go about law making and deciding how to spend money that they tax away from us or otherwise borrow on our behalf.

But yes, having parties while a natural disaster is occurring is a bad look. Whether they realized how bad it was at the time though, I can't be sure.

oh put a sock in it.

Rain “warnings”? The last I heard, it’s rather hard to predict how much rain will fall in a storm, harder to tell exactly where it will fall, and impossible to predict what it will do. If anyone had thought the storms would have done so much damage, they would have evacuated everyone.

It was the night the meteorological agency was issuing warnings.

Wait, so they are being criticized for having a party the same night as the warnings were issued? I guess they could've jumped in their time machine and gone back to cancel the party after they looked in their crystal ball to see that the warnings were coming...

Come on, this is dumb.

I agree with other posters. This is really unfair to LDP and PM Abe and his Cabinet. How were they to know this would turn into a once in 100 years disaster?

It is just a type of bullying again from minor opposition parties. What is wrong with holding parties? You can be sure most politicians and leaders would be holding even bigger parties EVERY night.