Suga regrets having to take all the heat for hosting Olympics during pandemic

Translation error? He had the choice to defer to Koike? But chose to take all the heat and regrets it?

Unless the weren't on the same page and disputed, they would be on the same team taking the same heat.

If you don't like the heat, Suga-san, get out of the kitchen.

What did you think the job was, if not to take responsibilities?

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday he regretted having to take all the flak for holding the Summer Olympics during a pandemic as his government was reported to favor allowing domestic spectators into stadiums to watch.

All of you on the hook to pay for a COVID-tainted Olympic exercise of hubris and profit for a select few, won't you think of poor Suga's feelings for a moment when you criticize leaders so harshly? It's the least you can do after he finishes a long, hard day of his duties to go to his favorite steak house in Ginza.

Suga took on the job as leader and now is complaining he must lead. There are many expletives that can be used to describe this guy.

Of course that has a very simple solution that would make most of the population breath at ease and improve his falling popularity, unfortunately that would mean betraying the powerful back up that made him prime minister so that is of course out of the question.

Maybe if showed a little backbone and did something he wouldn't be under so much criticism.

Everything since he took over has been down at a snail pace. Every decision wishy-washy with very little indication he represents the people esp against the wishes of the IOC.

Continuation of the ban on permanent foreign residents coming back into Japan from India and other high contagion countries etc. Just a continuation of the BS that Abe set in place.

Do something, bonehead and you won't have to "regret" all the anger flying your way.

He has never had to take responsibility his whole life, it’s obviously in his twilight years a bit of a shock.

Should ave grown some balls and canceled it!!!

It’s so regrettable

Sort of agree with the previous posts but, still, I am wondering where Koike has been lately.

Has she made any official statement related to the Games or Covid in the last 2 or 3 weeks? Last thing I remember from her was the announcement of a panda's possible pregnancy.

PimToday 08:05 am JST

Sort of agree with the previous posts but, still, I am wondering where Koike has been lately.

She did exactly the same thing in February and March last year, disappeared entirely for about six weeks then miraculously reappeared the day after the Olympics were canceled.

Are we sure he is the Prime Minister?

AFAIK, Koike can't ban people from entering the country. If Suga would ban anyone connected with the Olympics, they would in effect be cancelled. So that's why he has to take the heat.

Suga regrets having to take all the heat for hosting Olympics during pandemic

You can talk to your buddy Abe about that one.

By the way, Sugi-Baby, I’ll let you in on a little secret……

just find some scapegoats, and people will forget all about the crap you’ve done, go for it!

Good luck at the next elections!!!

Bake

when the host city governor, Yuriko Koike, should be weighing in.

> Koike was not immediately available for comment.

Welcome to everyone’s least favorite game, but they all do it anyway, “PASS THE BUCK!”

This is the game show where no one takes any responsibility when things are bad, but somehow always takes the credit when things go well.

Generally we have people that go AWOL for weeks or months at a time, but you know they’ll be blatantly seen, once things start to get better!!!

Suga and Koike, come on down!!!!!

Should we care about his feelings ?

Huh? You are responsabile, you have the power to cancel the Olymics but you didn't

That’s the assist of the century by an “ opposition “ member. Of course Suga could not have a member of his own party ask the Koike question. That would be to transparent even for the Japanese public. Koike will not be amused

Talk about disappearances, Kono San has been near invisible,

Who is Koike? Is that a invisible lady?

Translation error? He had the choice to defer to Koike? But chose to take all the heat and regrets it?

Unless the weren't on the same page and disputed, they would be on the same team taking the same heat.

I think what he is referring to is the fact that these are the "Tokyo" Olympics, not the "Japan" Olympics. Koike is the governor of Tokyo, which is the actual entity that is hosting the games and most decisions about it are actually supposed to be made by her government, not the Japanese Central Government which he is the head of.

Yet despite this he is the one taking most of the flak.

He isn't entirely wrong on that count. Actually the person who should really be taking most of the flak isn't even Koike, its Shintaro Ishihara, the former governor of Tokyo who signed Tokyo up for these stupid games in the first place. He walked off into retirement and left everyone else to clean up his mess for him.

He really has a thin skin but Abe said Japan wanted the Olympics in 2021 even though Bach said 2022 was possible. Suga ia on the hook.

Suga is gambling it can go well. It may not.

But I doubt he regrets DESERVING all the flak.

Suga regrets having to take all the heat for hosting Olympics during pandemic

Doesn't make sense. How can you regret something which someone else is doing? He can regret being slow and incompetent. But it is not up to him to regret if the public is angry with him. Is this typical Japanese-speak of 'shut up'?

The problem is more complicated than blaming one man. I love how Japan seems to simplify every problem in life. I see this in the workplace also. Never see reality or get to root problems. Always blaming people "Nani-Nani-san wa damenano!"

But hey, its why alot of us have jobs here in Japan and get paid to solve these problems, and not just finger point!

On this, Suga is quite correct. The contract is between the IOC on one side and the City of Tokyo and the Japanese Olympic Committee on the other side. The latter is a non-profit organisation that selects teams and raises funds to send Japanese competitors to Olympic events organised by the International Olympic Committee. CT were represented by Naoki Inose, and JOC by Tsunekazu Takeda, who resigned over allegations of corruption.

The budget comprises two main elements – the “OCOG” budget, which is the responsibility of Tokyo 2020 (Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) and the “Other Entities” budget, covering expenditure by Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Japanese Government. The latter includes investment in sporting facilities and other social infrastructure aligned with Tokyo's hosting of the Games which will continue to benefit the city well beyond 2020. v2 of the budget was OCOG JPY 600 billion and the Other Entities JPY 750 billion, though some audits indicate the real figures are more than double these sums.

A very complicated web of costs and payments, making it hard to ascertain the real sum involved, and very easy to manipulate.

You regret actions, you regret behavior, you regret decisions-

Do you see a pattern here?

Taking action may earn regret.

To be the recipient of blame is a whole nutha smoke, Suga.

And through your lack of decisive action, you have earned it.

ooo ooo was it regretable??

it was regrettable

nice!

did they respond to comments?

Koike was not immediately available for comment.

The prime minister's office declined to comment.

The gold silver and bronze of responses

Stop your damn whining you baby.

Bohoohoooo,let us all cry..,mama..tasukete....bohoohoo!

This whole Olympic fiasco has revealed how weak the government is in relation to the IOC, and how the PM and mayor are seen as lapdogs to them. They could have taken a stronger position critical of the IOC's determination to pocket as much money as they can at the expense of the health of Japan's population, but they didn't. And there's probably going to be some blowback after the smoke has cleared.

Then there's this wording "regrettable". What's regrettable is that there are so many better words to translate "zannen", like remorse, grief, contrite, disappointed, repentant, shame, dismay, lament, guilt, sorrow. Any of these words would be less awkward in the headline.

Simply take actions to cancel these cursed games if you are not competent to insure safe conditions. You will not insure safe conditions whatever you say as long as you are not tackling the real problem here. You and your government are indeed incompetent.

He is the Prime Minster of Japan and that is his job. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

He was always way out of his depth in this role and has created a huge mess.

Good riddance when election time comes.

Suga set up as the fall guy, all along. Koike unavailable for comment.

The paralysis of many of the efforts to combat the pandemic and deal with the curveballs thrown by it are most likely down to good old-fashioned political one-upmanship and infighting. Hard to make the necessary moves in a top-down system, when the tops can't work together in a crisis. All while the patient populace looks on in tired resignation, for they expect nor can imagine anything else. Yay factionalism.

Playing good cop/bad cop.

He is the PM, as Truman said, " The buck stops here." He ultimately bears responsibility for what happens, good or bad.

The ultimate clown in this clown world...

Forget about the Olympics. It is a big, big headache. Cancel it soon. A lot better than causing unpredictable confusions.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday he regretted having to take all the flak for holding the Summer Olympics during a pandemic

How about this for radical thinking then. DON'T HOLD THE OLYMPICS DURING A PANDEMIC!

Well, Euro Dude, we are tax payers financing the mess for the most part. And who are you?

Cue the violin

I guess a big part of the blame should also be placed on Abe.

He had the golden opportunity at the start of the pandemic to put measures in place / cancel the Olympics but nope... he just handballed it to the next person and is now living comfortably somewhere in his mansion.

Abe,Ishihara and Koike all suck.

As much as I don't like Suga I do feel a little sorry for him.

The aforementioned three are getting off scot free yet they caused most of this debacle.

These are the Abe Olympics, with his former hatchet man and lieutenant, in charge. a man who was supposed to defer to others and merely keep the seat warm for the next PM. Instead he has grabbed the crown and his regime is one of ineptitude and failure. Yet he remains.

Mr.Suga is incredible. Always looking sweaty...nervously sweaty. Eyes (at rest) always off to a 45 degree angle looking for escape: dodging questions.

He's a child who has been placed in an adult role.

There absolutely needs to be an inquiry how someone so inept could fall into leadership of a country in a time of crises.

But who am I kidding? He will fall, all will be forgiven.

If Suga didn't want to " take heat" all he needed to do was appoint some stuffed shirt as figurehead to do it for him.

It' called delegation of responsibility. That way, when things go wrong you have a sacrificial goat to fire and end up looking like you're solving the problem,

Japan's central government is not a party to the contract with the IOC.

The JOC and the city of Tokyo are.