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Opinion

Japan's government gets no credit for coronavirus response

Slow start and out-of-touch prime minister have aggravated public

| Japan
A large screen shows Shinzo Abe declaring a state of emergency on Apr. 7: Abe is one of a few country leaders whose approval rating has declined even as coronavirus numbers have declined.

Dr. Nancy Snow is Pax Mundi (World Peace) Professor of Public Diplomacy at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.

Why are the Japanese people not giving the government credit for managing coronavirus? The expected surge never happened, with only 16,600 cases and 850 deaths, and Japan's state of emergency is now over. The Diamond Princess cruise ship, a quarantine debacle for the slow, silent Japanese government response, left Yokohama for Malaysia. And international reporters are moving back to base now that crisis signs have been extinguished.

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