October 27, 2020
Finally, 40 days after the inauguration of his government, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide delivered his first policy speech before the Diet. While highlighting digital promotions and a new target for cutting GHG emissions, he did not mention anything about his political intervention in the Science Council of Japan membership which the general public is currently paying attention to.
An overwhelming majority of the public in every opinion poll pointed to the lack of accountability in regard to this matter, but PM Suga has completely ignored public opinion.
Both Japan and the rest of the world are now facing serious problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, nuclear weapons, increasing poverty, and widening social gaps. In order to overcome these global challenges, what kind of Japanese society he envisions and how he will ensure the achievement of that vision were supposed to be the focus of attention. However, he failed to show any signs of tackling those problems.
Regarding the prevention of the coronavirus spread, he just used the phrase "ensuring the testing capacity" but did not say anything about the decisively-important PCR tests. He also did not touch upon compensation for coronavirus-caused loss of earnings at medical facilities. Regarding employment and businesses, he referred to the continuation of the government subsidy for businesses but did not say anything else pertaining to support programs. Regarding measures dealing with climate change and global warming, he promised net zero emissions by 2050. However, he did not present concrete measures to be taken by 2030 which the international community is asking Japan to specify. He spoke of neither the UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons which will come into force in January 2021 nor the increase in poverty and inequality.
It is necessary for the general public to make this extraordinary session of the Diet an opportunity to bring down the Suga government and shape the course of politics to one of meeting the public demand.
