politics

Minister fends off criticism that decision to suspend travel subsidy campaign came too late

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42 Comments
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He must have read our comments here.

20 ( +23 / -3 )

"We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter," he said.

A new bureaucratic expression, to be added to 'mistakes were made' among so many others.

18 ( +22 / -4 )

Oh yeah he sure did respond to those allegations...

By dropping the bombshell “We will do everything to control the virus at an early stage”.

What a read!

21 ( +24 / -3 )

Was it just me or did his nose actually grow larger as he spoke?

20 ( +23 / -3 )

The meeting situation on the picture is similar to the meeting situation at my work.

Stucked together like in a chicken stall without any social distance.

Currently, I denied to attend 80% of the meetings at my office.

My Boss is not happy about that, but he understands my point.

8 ( +15 / -7 )

"We will do everything we can to stop the spread of infections at an early stage," Nishimura said during an out-of-session committee meeting of the House of Representatives.

That would be "nothing", unless you have access to a time machine the time for stopping infections early already passed. There are a lot of things that can still be done, but the best timing was when the spreading was much easier to control. Unfortunately, for that it is needed higher testing that continues uninterrupted even on the weekends (gasp!).

9 ( +15 / -6 )

Gimmie a break! The government was claiming that the three weeks, that ended last Friday , were "critical" in helping to stop the spread of the virus.

So their "action" was to talk out of one side of their mouth, and then out of their arse!

17 ( +21 / -4 )

The Go To Travel campaign should have not been cancelled but suspended nation wide a month ago. Fully refund folks for the cost or allow re-use. It would have not stopped spread of the virus but it certainly would have decelerated the spread.

The politicians in Nagata cho are so out of touch with the people and it seems with reality that their decisions and follow up comments leave any thinking person baffled. Obviously these people are far to arrogant to admit an error or even indicate they could have done something better. This leads one to believe they will repeat their mistakes.

Even my wife, the in laws and most other Japanese I know (90%) now despise this government. Many of the people I know used to be staunch LDP supporters.

And again - remember - as some of us need to use public transportation and some people need to use packed subways, etc. these people are driven from place to place in private cars all paid for by our tax money.

15 ( +18 / -3 )

I don't know how they keep a straight face, I really don't

19 ( +20 / -1 )

I hope everyone living in Japan voices their anger, not only to the Japanese government, but to the selfish business leaders who pressured the politicians into starting the Go To Travel and Go To Eat campaigns.

My respect for the Japanese government has been lost. I'm very disappointed.

11 ( +15 / -4 )

The gov't dragged their feet on something ... again?!!

Imagine my shock

Surprized Pikachu Face!

6 ( +10 / -4 )

A travel subsidy program is a wrong idea in the first place. Government should not get involved in such soviet style central planning of the economy.

Tourism operators could make their own promotions to attract customer demand, just as private businesses could make masks to meet consumer demand for masks.

We simply do not need government spraying money around when the going gets tough. This is life.

Give me back the small government days.

8 ( +12 / -4 )

Nishimura doesn't have a scientific or medical background, he's just the man to be leading the fight against the pandemic.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Always ready with a BSexcuse, but why not? For those responsible, at least, there are no consequences for government fubars.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

It was such an absurd and ignorant idea promoted by Travel agencies who benefited the most, small businesses need cash support and not a Go Travel scam.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Who could have known that a campaign that promotes travel would become a vector for a pandemic.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

We will do everything we can to stop the spread of infections 

We will do everything we can to stage the Olympics

er...

9 ( +11 / -2 )

and they still allow the Goto campaign to continue until Dec 28th. To allow everyone to travel before the start of the holidays.

It is not that they dont know, not understand, but that the plebs does not matter to the elite. We have not moved very far from the Samurai chopping of the heads from farmers when they did not bow deep enough.

we are expendables.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

That pic. Social distance much?

10 ( +11 / -1 )

The decision came too late for who? It was perfect timing for the government because most people had already made the bookings and paid for them. Now, the government doesn’t have to subsidize any travel plans. Perfect timing!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter," he said.

No rush. Take your time.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

"We will do everything we can to stop the spread of infections at an early stage,"

Says "The minister in charge of Japan's response to the novel coronavirus"

Great, so how do we stop the infection from spreading since before the Olympics were cancelled, or escalating to three times worse than the spring State of Emergency, vectored by the preposterous GoTo campaign (which also had the purely coincidental effect of greasing the palms of LDP donors?)

Oh, we can't do anything "at an early stage" because we are now ten months into this catastrophe.

What to do?

"We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter" 

No doubt in tightly-packed rooms full of oyajis as depicted above, or in the back rooms of high-priced restaurants paid for by our dime.

Nothing has been done in ten months except hope for good luck. When will voters here realise the LDP is a feudal shambles?

8 ( +10 / -2 )

"We will do everything we can to stop the spread of infections at an early stage,"

Early stage??? So what, in this jackass's opinion, is a LATE stage??

"We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter," he said.

That is comedy gold! I am going to put this up on my facebook account!

9 ( +12 / -3 )

The pictures should already say all.

All boys,all middle aged to senior,and al dress up the same.

These Daimyo guys live in their own world.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Just look at the picture. They have absolutely no idea about how to best tackle this virus.

Show me another country in the world that has implemented a national travel campaign in the middle of this pandemic.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

"We will do everything we can to stop the spread of infections at an early stage," Nishimura said 

INCLUDING follow Koike's 3C rules.

No Closed areas...............er, the lobby had one window. It was pained shut though.

No Close Conversations..............um, you know just myself and about 20 of the most important dudes in this situation talking about nothing for 4 hours.

and

No close proximity to others..........uhhhh, see above????

But other than that, we are doing everything we can to stop this Columbia 13!!!!

(pssst, it's COVID-19 or the coronavirus.)

Like I said, we will stop this 19 virus at any cost!

Next question.......

5 ( +5 / -0 )

So.............what exactly do these guys ACTUALLY do all day?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

A minister never decides to suspend a travel campaign late, nor too early.

He decides precisely when he means to.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Go To Travel initiative should not have been cancelled a month earlier, but should have been suspended nationwide. Completely compensate individuals for the price or encourage re-use. It would not have stopped the propagation of the virus, but it would probably have slowed down the spread.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Well, considering the number of cases in Tokyo is expected to cross 800 today, obviously, we are beyond the point of "doing everything possible before it's too late"...

7 ( +7 / -0 )

We have not moved very far from the Samurai chopping of the heads...

That's why so many never stick their necks out and why so many policies fail for lack of boldness, decisiveness and follow-through. Still, the "samurai" have moved on and today you only get thrown under the bus.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

PLEASE save lives NOT save face.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I wonder if any of the cabinet ministers have heard the expression 'prevention is better than a cure" it does not seem like it.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Your call WAS TO CARRY ON.

The outcome is misery & death.

How do you feel about that?

Are you going to follow trumps example, be the coward & walk away?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Are you going to follow trumps example, be the coward & walk away?

They ALL do. Case in point, former PM

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter,

Not only are "we" doing nothing, we are gonna speed up the process to think about doing nothing further.

That has got to be the most political thing ever said.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"We will speed up (the process of) considering the matter,"

Only in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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