Suga’s leadership is questioned due to verbal slips

The leadership of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is faced with plummeting approval ratings, is at risk due to a series of verbal slips he has made. He made several mistakes even in his speech on significant issues such as the order of the emergency to slow down the spread of COVID-19 and the timing of the dissolution of the House of Representatives.

While outlining coronavirus restrictions on Monday, Prime Minister Suga said “limited measures” when he was supposed to say “strict measures” and “elementary and middle schools” instead of “elementary schools” and “production” instead of “births.” These three mistakes were all made while he was speaking of COVID-19 measures. He then said “all” when what he actually meant was “active” when he was talking about decarbonization.

It is said that the Japanese prime minister failed to read the script even though he spent an entire Sunday preparing for the speech, which sparked criticism that he does not have what it takes to be a leader of a country. “Different qualities are required for a prime minister from those required for the chief cabinet secretary of Japan,” said Hakubun Shimomura, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy research council chief. “If the prime minister keeps making such mistakes, it could negatively affect government operations.”


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