Suga rules out dissolving lower house soon so he can focus on COVID response

Jun Azumi, head of parliamentary affairs at the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the prime minister's unwillingness to set a date for the general election as "irresponsible."

You can complain all you want, and you know it will be "soon" but the odds of you winning enough seats to make a difference are somewhere between slim and none!

Two questions:

First, does Suga actually think he has done a good job handling the pandemic? Leaders never want to own up to their failures, but I genuinely wonder if this man is capable of seeing his performance as anything but perfect. The idea that he actually seeks to remain PM with the level of irresponsibility and negligence that has been on display is really just puzzling. Then again Japan has a real problem with accountability among the elderly. They're "experienced" so in no way can anything they do or say or think be challenged/wrong.

Second, why only now does he care about focusing on "COVID response"? Why was it not more important than the Olympics, especially after it was determined the event would be free of spectators? Why has he neglected to construct "pop-up" hospitals for infected patients in need of hospitalization? All those thousands of people stuck at home in Tokyo, for example, could be in them. Why has he neglected to do anything about the vaccination shortages and distribution efficiency?

My whole take on this country's approach to COVID is: "We're better than the rest of the world so we don't need to worry about things they do." Japan has had so much time to get this squared away, yet all of it has been squandered.

instead of dissolving the lower house may be it would be better to dissolve his s term!

Yeah, now that the Olympics have passed and we're going on two years since Corona first started up, why not start focussing?

Will be gone soon, approval rating 26%.

If you ever need an example for difference of talking and then contradicting practically doing, above is a good one, if not the ‘best’ ever.

Foreigner in Tokyo-san, Over the past year (and a half) I have I often struggled to explain my frustration at the leadership in Japan, and you have summed it up perfectly.  

No one wants to be responsible for making a wrong choice, but there is also a responsibility when leaders' procrastination leaves few or no good choices.

Then again Japan has a real problem with accountability among the elderly. They're "experienced" so in no way can anything they do or say or think be challenged/wrong.

“Only the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer.”

It doesn't matter what his approval rating is. The vast majority of those who bother to vote in Japan will vote LDP regardless of any scandals, poor performance or popularity. Much of Japan still has a feudal mindset so vote accordingly.

Olympics didn’t give him the boost he needed so he’ll focus on COVID, maybe in a month he hopes to get back higher popularity rate. Feels like he’s playing Jinsei game and realizes he needs to track back to take another path.

Well regardless if the main opposition party is voted in they will still get stuck due to The current House of Councilors being controlled by the LDP meaning every attempt to pass any laws which still needs to go through them and like they did in 2009 to the DPJ, they will just delay any bills from going to a vote making it expire and never being returned to the House of Representatives to be vetoed.

I still think we should vote them out but we are not done with LDP just because we vote them out of government. we have to also vote them out of the House of councilors before we can see any real changes.

Wow, just like koike, once the games were cancelled in March 2020 she SUDDENLY was all about "dealing"" with covid...and then proceeded to NOT deal with it!

Now we have suga when the para games are on the verge of ending, now SUDDENLY be all about ""dealing"" with covid...my $$ is on he still doesnt do a damned thing for the people of his country, for shame!

Great, we need you Suga-san. You are doing a good job in these difficult times.

Well. That's convenient. What is he going to do? Volunteer at a SARSCoV-2 clinic?

Lot more going on behind-the-scenes here than the Kyodo article tells us. Nikai is not happy to be getting the boot and Aso is now calling for Suga's head. Suga may be taking some big ones down with him. Got something right for once.

https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/14431039

He needs to dissolve the diet in order to focus on the COVID response? Is he not doing that now? They report numbers of positive cases which are not the true numbers. Why? Because all these private clinics that do PCR testing DO NO reveal their numbers due to privacy laws. Other areas of Japan the numbers are rising, however, here in Tokyo the numbers are going down and you cannot say because it is the vaccine roll out. People from other parts of Kanto are entering Tokyo to get a vaccine, example, my friend from Kashiwa went to Otemachi to get her vaccine. Suga and all who are around him are a hot mess, and we need a fresh face like the Osaka governor who is young and on his game.

Considering the severity of the current situation, dissolving (the lower house) isn't possible right now,

translation: ‘No way I can face the electorate with my approval ratings in the mid-twenties.’

Mr Suga. You Allow the "Games" but you will not be prepared to allow a much-needed Nation Election.

The Country comes "FIRST". Petty Politics has NO PLACE in a Pandemic.

Suga rules out dissolving lower house soon so he can focus on COVID response

So he can focus on seeing how much more damage he can do to the country on the way down.

mariasjapan

instead of dissolving the lower house may be it would be better to dissolve his s term!

Or his party altogether!

Just quit Suga nobody will miss you and make sure that Abe thing doesn't come back...

so he can focus on COVID response

You mean something that should have been the number one priority since he took over office?

Yeah, I guess. I mean, what has he been doing since?

"It all comes down to the COVID-19 situation. It's impossible to decide whether to dissolve (the lower house) or not just yet," said one person close to Suga.

God help Japan. The Geriatric-in-Chief is extending the reign of error.