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Haruki Murakami, Japan’s eminent novelist and perennial Nobel Prize contender, is not happy with the way Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is tackling the pandemic. The PM’s excessive optimism flies in the face of a rising number of infections even as the nation hosted the Olympics.
When people were protesting ahead of the Summer Olympics, demanding its postponement, Suga had said there was no reason to worry; he could see “an exit is now in our sight after a long tunnel.” He was in particular referring to the then newly launched ‘infusion treatment’ as an additional measure of protection against the coronavirus.
In his monthly radio show, Murakami was especially sarcastic this Sunday. [https://lithub.com/haruki-murakami-has-criticized-the-japanese-prime-minister-over-his-pandemic-optimism/] “If he really saw an exit, his eyes must be extremely good for his age. I’m of the same age as Mr. Suga [72], but I don’t see any exit at all … It seems he doesn’t listen to others, and perhaps he only has eyes that see well, or he sees only what he wants to see.” [https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-sports-health-japan-pandemics-e9923bbd3d228c5636aa97008e1a4845]
Murakami, in his critically acclaimed and yet popular novels, comes across as largely apolitical, but in his radio show he does not mind sharing his views on political themes. He seems to be speaking up for a majority: Suga had a popularity rating of 70% when he became the PM in September last year, but the number of down to 30%.
Since the Olympics began on July 23, the number of daily new cases in Japan has gone up nearly five times (more than three times in Tokyo). There have been 1,469,327 infections so far, with 15,994 deaths. [https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/] Last month, Suga had to extend lockdown in Tokyo and other regions, and impose new measures elsewhere, covering about three-fourth of the country, to counter the surge in infections fuelled by the Delta variant. [https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-set-extend-covid-19-state-emergency-lockdown-sept-12-2021-08-17/]
Yet, the nation is hosting the Summer Paralympics (August 24–September 5).
Though Japan was late in launching vaccination and the progress was slow, Suga is all praise for it. He claims all eligible and willing people would be fully vaccinated by October/November, though only 44% of them have been covered so far.