Abenomasks were met with derision on Twitter. Photo: @punxjk
politics

Gov't sued over disclosure of Abenomask unit price, order numbers

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Good luck to him. this whole program was just corrupt incompetence from start to finish and light needs to be shed on that.

I have seen thousands of faces wearing masks in the months since this pandemic began. Not a single one has been wearing an Abenomask.

Well, except for Abe himself of course, but even he has stopped using the stupid things.

30 ( +30 / -0 )

Classic, redacted? It's not, as far as I know a matter of National Security. More a matter of embarrassment. It's odd that as soon as someone wants transperacy the black marker comes out, and the original has probably been shredded with no PC back up? Thumb drive what's that? What a sick joke these untouchables play with our money.

29 ( +29 / -0 )

And even after this debacle the media is still trying to paint Abe as some kind of saviour.

His scandals and abhorrence of the voting masses should be testament to his time in office.

17 ( +18 / -1 )

When are these politicians going to be held accountable and liable for their stupidity and incompetence ?

16 ( +17 / -1 )

I question the reason for the reduction of the unit price and have doubts about how many of these companies have directly helped finance Abe in some sort of donation and how many of these companies he will become a member of the board of directors on in the near future.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Glad to see someone having the guts to call out this pork barrel trough,

10 ( +10 / -0 )

When are these politicians going to be held accountable and liable for their stupidity and incompetence ?

Early November

9 ( +10 / -1 )

I wish the plaintiff success, but I fear his case will be denied on the grounds of "reasons".

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Abemasks are just behind Abenomics as a massive failure

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Good.

Redacting should be made anti-constitutional regardless of the reason anyway.

I'm crossing my fingers he succeeds.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The pic is accurate: The Abenomasks are cat and toddler-sized.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Cute graphic displays the message - one mask per four people? - and . . . ?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The initiative by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to help ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶v̶e̶l̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶o̶n̶a̶v̶i̶r̶u̶s̶ his friends embezzle billions of yen of your tax money sparked criticism due to the p̵o̵o̵r̵ ̵q̵u̵a̵l̵i̵t̵y̵ ̵o̵f̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵m̵a̵s̵k̵s̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵i̵r̵ ̵s̵l̵o̵w̵ ̵d̵e̵l̵i̵v̵e̵r̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵p̵u̵b̵l̵i̵c̵ outrageous and obvious criminality.

Fixed.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Several years before this pandemic, I bought 3000 disposable masks (retail) online.Including shipping, each mask worked out to be 3 yen each.

Abe’s masks , not fit for purpose, were almost 50 times more!

Then the cost of distribution should be factored in too.

Unasked for and unneeded, taxpayers’ money has been wasted. The Japanese public has been conned, once again...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Cui bono? We taxpayers need to know the names of those who pocketed the profits from this transparent scam of foisting on the public a rag that gave men less protection from Covid than a Hitler toothbrush mustache.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If you ever wonder why people subscribe to wild conspiracy theory and don't trust the government for anything, just remember this story. Its about freaking cloth masks. And its treated like a national security secret complete with run around and redactions. Imagine how they treat things that really matter.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Classic, redacted? It's not, as far as I know a matter of National Security. More a matter of embarrassment. It's odd that as soon as someone wants transperacy the black marker comes out, and the original has probably been shredded with no PC back up? Thumb drive what's that? What a sick joke these untouchables play with our money.

Couldn't agree more.

Good luck to him. this whole program was just corrupt incompetence from start to finish and light needs to be shed on that.

I have seen thousands of faces wearing masks in the months since this pandemic began. Not a single one has been wearing an Abenomask.

Well, except for Abe himself of course, but even he has stopped using the stupid things.

exactly

When are these politicians going to be held accountable and liable for their stupidity and incompetence ?

NEVER. This is Japan.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Looking back at it, the episode makes Abe look like an ultra-socialist.

It was like dear leader was going to be so loved because he had masks obtained to save the entire populace. Rejoin and praise Abe!! And then let him change the constitution!! Or something like that.

But... didn’t Abe forget about the simple reality of market forces - supply and demand? As the article notes, private sector players have produced offerings for consumers themselves, and where there is some yen to be had in exchange for adequate quality, there will be product supplied and purchases made by consumers. Not to mention homemade masks.

We didn’t need government jumping in with more debts in return for crappy Abenomasks - the free market and handy sewing folks had us covered.

Despite his scandals I try to believe that Abe was doing what he thought best (although he needs to learn about free markets), but one does wonder who got the money for making those crappy masks, and if there wasn’t a cronyism scandal there too.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why must there be secrets abt mask prices???.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Will be very interesting to see how the compliant judicial system deals with this one.

gary

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Wouldn't be surprised if each mask cost 5000 yen or something stupid, and the monies went to another one of Abe's Parties' cronies.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Is this guy an idiot, or just annoying, or is there more to this story?

This man is "demanding" the governement:

"reveal the unit price of washable cloth masks".

OK. But as stated here:

The project cost the government 26 billion yen, with 18.4 billion yen spent on procurement and 7.6 billion yen on delivery.

Yep, 26 billion is also what they announced in June regarding the cost.

But he wants the "unit price". OK, then 18+ billion yen divided 120+ million masks equals roughly 150 yen per mask. Oh, he wants the gov to flat out say this in unredacted form. Wait a minute....

the plaintiff said some parts of the documents that were not blacked out showed the unit price of the cloth masks at 143 yen including tax.

Case closed. Or again, is there more to this story?

Kamiwaki is also seeking 600,000 yen in damages from the government

There it is.

-12 ( +0 / -12 )

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