A newspaper ad criticizing the government's response to Japan's fourth pandemic wave was widely shared on social media Tuesday as public concerns mount over COVID-19 and official plans to host the Olympics, now just two months away.
The ad, appearing in three national newspapers Tuesday morning and paid for by a publisher known for taking stances on social and political issues, shows an illustration of the coronavirus overlaid on a black and white World War II-era photo of Japanese children training to fight with sticks.
"No vaccine, no medication. Are we supposed to fight with bamboo spears? If things continue as they are, politics are going to kill us," the ad says, noting that the public has endured a year of restrictions while the virus has continued to spread.