• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Fall of Japan PM Suga triggered by criticism over pandemic, failure to communicate

September 3, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

September 3, 2021

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – When Yoshihide Suga took over as Japan’s prime minister last year, hopes were high that skills honed over years as a keen backroom operator, and a common touch from his rural roots, would enable him to lead his nation through the pandemic.

Instead, the virus surged back amid a rocky vaccination rollout and a series of “states of emergency” that did little to stop the spread of the more contagious Delta variant. Suga, 72, also insisted on holding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed from last year, despite widespread public opposition.

But his support rates sank below 30% ahead of a ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race and general election this year.

On Friday, facing a revolt inside his own party, Suga said he would step down to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, setting the stage for his replacement as premier after just one year in office.

Known for his steely gaze and sharp, sometimes irritable, replies during news conferences as chief cabinet secretary and right-hand man to predecessor Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Suga took over in September 2020 when Abe abruptly quit, citing health problems.

His image as a savvy political operator capable of pushing through reforms and taking on the stodgy bureaucracy propelled his support to 74 percent when he took office.

Initially, populist promises such as lower mobile phone rates and insurance for fertility treatments were applauded. He also set up a digital agency to unify central and local government technology systems, an area where Japan has lagged.

But removing scholars critical of the government from an advisory panel and compromising with a his junior coalition partner on policy for healthcare costs for the elderly drew criticism.

His delay in halting the “Go To” domestic travel programme – which experts say probably helped spread the coronavirus – hit hard, while the public grew weary of states of emergency that hurt businesses.

Perceptions that he was more focused on hosting the Olympics than the pandemic also eroded support, although authorities have denied any link between the Games and the spike in infections.

Critics blamed poor communications skills at news conferences in parliament for failing to unite the public behind largely voluntary pandemic restrictions.

By August, when the Olympics closed, Suga’s support had slid below 30%, alarming party leaders and junior lawmakers ahead of an election for the powerful lower house of parliament that must be held this year and leading to talk about unseating him.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source Link Fall of Japan PM Suga triggered by criticism over pandemic, failure to communicate

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. “Our Mikis has gone”: ‘Zorba the Greek’ composer Theodorakis dies at 96
  2. WTO chief seeks fishing, pandemic accords by year end
  3. 5 Star Wars games we’d love to see on PC
  4. Amazon Labor Day sales 2021: the best early deals

Filed Under: News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • This Is The Largest Radio Color Image Of The Milky Way Ever Assembled – And It’s Gorgeous
  • Why We Can’t Stop Watching True Crime: The Psychological Pull And The Ethical Push
  • “Silent, Ongoing Genocide”: World’s 196 Uncontacted Tribes Are Facing Grave Threats To Their Survival
  • Golden Tigers Are Among The Rarest Big Cats In The World, But They Spell Bad News For Tigers
  • Rare 2-Million-Year-Old Infant Facial Fossils Expand What We Know About Prehistoric Human Children
  • First-Ever 3D Map Of Planet Outside Solar System Reveals Distant World’s Hot Spot And Cool Ring
  • From Chains To Forests: Working Elephants Set To Be Rehabilitated In The Wild Under New Project
  • Why Does Death Have Such A Distinctive Smell?
  • Blue Dogs Have Been Spotted In Chernobyl: What Is Going On?
  • Record-Breaking Gravitational Wave Detection Suggests These Black Holes Merged Before
  • Hurricane Melissa Is 2025’s Strongest Storm Yet, With Turbulence So Bad It Saw Off The Hurricane Hunters
  • Fancy Seeing Your Organs In 4D? Pretty Soon, You Might Be Able To
  • First Known Bats To Glow In The Dark In The US Discovered – But Scientists Aren’t Sure Why
  • “You Be Good. I Love You”: How Alex The Parrot Rewrote Our Understanding Of Animal Intelligence
  • What Would You Find If You Drill Down Deep Under Antarctica?
  • This Is The Safest Place To Sit In Your Car
  • Birds, Hats, And Boycotts: The Story Behind Why It’s A Crime To Collect Feathers
  • Ultra-High-Definition TV – Is It Really Worth It? New Study Figures Out If We Can Even See In UHD
  • Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Will Be At Its Closest To The Sun This Week
  • Human Movement Around Earth Over 40 Times Greater Than That Of All Wild Land Animals Combined
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version