School closures reduce children’s learning opportunities, negatively affect their physical and mental development and make it difficult for their parents to leave for work in the daytime.

Wow, Kentaro, tell us something we didn't know! If this is not the most commonly held belief, I'm not sure what is.

Perhaps they can use PM Kishida’s ¥100000 “Kash for The Kids” to buy “learning” & ‘child-care’ devices like a Nintendo Switch ?

Captain Obvious on the mic here.

All those credentials for...that. (facepalm)

I fully supported the closing of schools last year when PM Abe did it. That time very little was known about Corona virus and it’s impact. It was a new pandemic and globally schools were closed. Imagine if it had the ability to affect kids and cause death at a higher level. Then everyone would have blamed the Government for not closing schools and protecting lives! But as time went by and we all became familiar with the Covid-19 outbreak now it’s safe to say that school closures are not necessary if other protective measures and strategies are done. It’s unrealistic to say that school closures were not needed!

School closures reduce children’s learning opportunities, negatively affect their physical and mental development

so does excessive schooling like cram schools and 7 days a week club activities.

Shame on me uneducated adult. I had to look up, what the English word polimetrics means and is translated into. Quantitative macropolitics, something like that. Yes, that’s why it took him such long to discover ‘new’ knowledge. Bringing together some data and adding it up takes time nowadays. lol

Bureaucrats can never admit that they themselves are the problem. Stating the obvious, but powerless to do think on their feet and come up with any real action. The paper-pushing conmen. The mediocracy.

Lucky we have these people to guide us.

I think students in Japan welcomed the school closures Abe put into effect last year. It finally gave them time to be kids. It's so disheartening to see kids in Japan in their school uniforms on Saturdays and Sundays. No doubt they're either going to or coming back from cram school, a club activity or some other school related thing. When exactly do they have time to be a kid, hang out with their friends, and indulge in a hobby or two?

When the first lock down happened, the local Tokyo playgrounds were packed with left at home kids that had escaped their parent at work households. They were finally enjoying their childhood unsupervised. I've never before, or since, heard as much laughter and seen such play happening amongst the youth here. Of course, that couldn't be allowed to continue. The next lockdowns really were lockdowns for the kids. And if you think those children will grow and become good adults in the Japanese school system, you have a lot to learn. Conformity and non confrontation creates stressed out, depressed children. Hence the high suicide rates of Japanese students.

Rather than giving them cash,give them the most important gift.

Time.