Yoshihide Suga’s honeymoon period as Japanese prime minister had just begun when the coronavirus intervened. Now, two months into his leadership, he is battling a resurgent outbreak and disillusionment among voters.
Enthusiasm for the farmer’s son who worked part-time to make his way to college has faded since he took office in late September. As Japan prepares for a holiday period that experts fear could be overshadowed by a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, an anxious audience has Suga at the helm.
After the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) selected Suga to replace a seemingly ill Shinzō Abe as party leader and, after parliamentary approval, Prime Minister, his support rating was briefly 74%.
Since then, Japan has entered a third wave of infections, accompanied by unprecedented pressure on hospitals and anger at the role that one of Suga’s key policies may have played in allowing spread of the virus.
Japan has been less affected by the coronavirus than many countries, with 185,444 infections and 2,715 deaths since the first case in January and has avoided the strict blockades seen elsewhere.
It is possible that one of the grayest societies in the world has gone down relatively slightly, but Suga’s insistence on encouraging people to travel and make their way through the Covid crisis now seems underestimated.
Launched in July, the Going to Travel campaign aimed to boost the economy by encouraging people to travel, with up to half of the costs borne by the government.
Suga increased pressure to stop the scheme while Covid-19 cases skyrocketed during November. Last week the new daily infections exceeded 3,000 for the first time and on Wednesday Tokyo recorded a record 678 cases.
The government’s top health expert, Shigeru Omi, was one of those calling for a suspension of Go To, while a study (yet to be reviewed in pairs) found a higher incidence of symptoms among people who had participated in the scheme. Suga’s allies, however, continued to deny any ties.
However, he could not ignore opinion polls showing widespread opposition from the travel system and growing disapproval of his cabinet. A weekend poll by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper showed that support for Suga’s cabinet had fallen 17 points over the past month, to 40%.
Suga is now talked about as interim leader until the LDP elects a new president in September, a month before the next general election.
In a surprise announcement Monday, Suga said Go To would be suspended between Dec. 28 and Jan. 11. Tokyo and Nagoya joined Osaka and Sapporo (cities with a large number of cases) to be withdrawn earlier than the rest of the country.
Newspaper publishers were scathing about Suga’s indecision and his apparent reluctance to regularly inform the public about his response to the pandemic, an unusual stance for a man who addressed the media twice a day for nearly eight days. years as Abe’s chief spokesperson. His press conference on December 4 was the first in Japan since he took office.
The liberal newspaper Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial: “Since Japan’s efforts to address the health crisis are based primarily on non-legally binding requests for self-restraint, voluntary cooperation of people is the key to ‘success. How can the government expect public cooperation if the prime minister himself does not defend his plans to control the virus?
Doubts about Suga’s ability to lead the LDP to election victory are growing within his party. “It is possible that the prime minister’s office will lose much of its momentum if there is an increase in the number of people who think the LDP cannot win with Suga,” he told Reuters, an unnamed government official said. .
An LDP executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, wondered if the party’s candidates would like to put up Suga posters in their constituencies during the campaign. “The Suga administration started as a‘ practical cabinet ’, but is now becoming a‘ dark cabinet ’,” he said.
Suga’s problems continued on Wednesday when he was known to have ignored the social distancing advice he had urged people to follow during December. bōnenkai season, when friends and colleagues get together to eat, drink and “forget the year”.
Covid cases in Japan: graph
Despite his warnings against eating in groups of more than four people, Suga has recently attended social gatherings, media reported, including a visit Monday to a meat restaurant in Tokyo where he talked about baseball with six other diners. all men over 70 years of age.
“The two weeks leading up to the end of the year will be crucial for Suga,” said Tobias Harris, a Japanese expert at consulting firm Teneo. “If the government can stabilize the number of cases and strengthen the medical system before the New Year holidays, while avoiding stricter measures, it could change the corner in early 2021 with the approval of a new package of stimuli and the alleged start of vaccine distribution “.
“But if the cases continue to escalate, it will simultaneously face more pressure to impose stricter measures … and more criticism from the LDP for having waited too long to react.”