Originally published on February 13, 2020. This essay criticizes the situation in which Prime Minister Abe was detained in the Diet by opposition-party questioning over issues such as the cherry blossom-viewing party, even as Japan confirmed a domestic death from the novel coronavirus and infections among a doctor and a taxi driver. It questions the opposition’s conduct, especially that of Kiyomi Tsujimoto, at a time when the nation urgently needed crisis management.

February 13, 2020
The Prime Minister of Japan, who must deal with the countless problems covering the world, and moreover the prime minister who is now the most trusted in the world, is wasting his time answering utterly meaningless questions.
Today, at last, a woman infected with the novel coronavirus died inside Japan.
In Wakayama, a doctor was infected.
In Tokyo, a taxi driver was infected.
At a time when the entire nation must be taking up countermeasures, the Prime Minister of Japan is being detained in the Diet every day in order to answer questions about the cherry blossom-viewing party and the like from opposition parties that one cannot tell whether they are political parties of Japan or proxy parties for China and the Korean Peninsula.
In other words, the Prime Minister of Japan, who must deal with the countless problems covering the world, and moreover the prime minister who is now the most trusted in the world, is wasting his time answering utterly meaningless questions.
A video that was almost certainly in response to a question from Kiyomi Tsujimoto was just broadcast on Watch 9.
It showed Tsujimoto, in her usual manner, turning on her heel after the prime minister said, “That is a meaningless question,” and saying, “You just said it was a meaningless question, didn’t you?”
I understood why, in this column, the chapter concerning Kiyomi Tsujimoto has long remained in first place in search numbers, with a gap almost ten times greater than the chapters in second place and below.