Kev James comments

Two Prime Ministers who probably won’t last that long and who should be concentrating on their own countries mounting domestic problems!!!!

A nice little trip away, no mask and using taxpayers money.

No wonder his approval ratings are dropping here in Japan.

Michael - that’s a little disrespectful to 15 year old boys and girls. They are not all stupid you know.

Yes, the man could have contacted the parents, let them know he was looking after her and tried to explain to them the situation that their daughter wanted to run away. However, before we go accusing him of this and that and persecuting him without the full details, maybe we should ponder for a moment that there was no sinister motive here and he genuinely wanted to help her.

I thought after an incident like this, he would be told to “get on his bike”

More and more of these stories coming to light. I wonder if the girl had the freedom to leave or she was happy to be there. We need more information before people can judge the situation.

They won’t need to queue for 25 hours to see the Queen lying in state.

Hopefully they’ll have a safe flight and remember to bring me some Turkish delights and Mars bars back!

Release the true figures AFTER the funeral? Why are they scared to give us a rough figure? Scared of a public backlash?

Why couldn’t they have done this from the outset? So reactive instead of being proactive!!!

Putting a massive guilt trip on parents who haven’t made their kids take the vaccine. Seriously, don’t they get it that even with vaccines, people will still get it and spread it. Just ask Kishida-san

How is this possible? He had 4 vaccine shots and told people that vaccines would stop the spread of the virus……I’m puzzled, bemused and baffled

This is sick. I hope these men all get proper sentences. I bet this is only the tip of the iceberg though in this country.

The real figure is the measly 7000 or so tourists for the month. The whole world is letting people travel freely but Japan is still stuck in 2020. Oh but they will let their own citizens come and go freely……..hardly seems fair. Until Japan changes it’s mindset, those figures will remain low.

Not exactly of the same caliber of Oceans 11 or 12 or 13!!!

Imagine paying all your taxes and health insurance and then getting injured or seriously sick during OBON when a lot of hospitals are closed. I mean, it’s a hospital - how on earth could they be closed?? It’s a frightening thought I may need an ambulance one day and be stuck in the back for hours as they ring dozens of hospitals looking for a bed.

One female in the cabinet, Taro still there, and Kono somehow manages to stay on - failing to see a massive fundamental revamp here! I hope things change but I’m pessimistic

As with most state funerals, will that date be a national holiday? If they are using my taxes, then I’d like to have the choice to watch the proceedings (which I won’t).

What a depressing picture…..can’t they work from home? Dark and sweaty room with masks on, little cool air and few lights on. Is this meant to inspire me to follow suit???

This is just nonsense now.....It isnt like there are 1 million people crammed into one small area. This is just an absurd decision!!!!

Kishida and Japan doing something, merely to be seen to be doing something. These sanctions and useless actions have no effect at all. How does expelling 8 diplomats help the victims of the war in Ukraine?

Koike making no sense - getting the vaccine doesn’t break the COVID chain. I know people who have had 3 shots and still got the virus. Yes, the vaccine helped them recover super fast, but stop spouting nonsense that it “breaks the Covid infection chain.”

This is dragging on……though it is getting lower and lower, albeit slowly!

Fingers crossed this new variant doesn’t come over as we could be forced to cancel summer and wear masks all summer too. UK figures are really high this week with the new stealth variant.

Olaf is super excited to see Kishida. You can just picture him saying “this guy” as he hears the fact Japan is paying Biden even more money to have American soldiers and their bases on Japanese soil!

Why more “discussion”? Is it that difficult to make a decision? Can’t we bypass all the meetings, hanko’s and faxes and just make an instant decision?

I am not condoning his actions here, but he was set up to fail and reoffend. Surely the system should be set up better to give support so they don’t reoffend within the first 6 months.

How dare teachers and children get sick, as it makes it difficult to continue our social and economic activities! What a joke of a statement - get back working and continue spending money as the economy needs it. Hope families can take time off work without getting penalised for it financially or emotionally.

Very difficult to sell this job to young people when they know all their overtime is “service” and it’s expected for them to work until late at night, so club activities they don’t know how to do, work weekends with club practice and practice games and dealing with all the other nonsense in a school. It really is one of the toughest jobs here in this country.

Common sense prevails - this is not what is needed right now. Let’s get any extra money ring-fenced for a pointless SOE out to families and people who actually need it.

So let me get this right, Kishida is urging people to be speedy about getting their 3rd shot whilst only ensuring 3,120 shots a day are provided at two centres. Can he care to elaborate on how that works???

Such a contrast to the summer games in Japan where all the staff came and went by local trains daily, media staff were out and about drinking and eating and athletes were free to roam around outside the village freely. Chiba getting everyone locked down!!!

He only cancelled as he was told he couldn’t get a wheelie bin full of booze onto the flight as it would be over the weight limit.