Japan now has a 'loneliness minister,' but how will solitude be measured?

Tetsushi Sakamoto, the minister for promoting the dynamic engagement of all citizens, who is also newly in charge of loneliness issues, raised the advancement of how the government understands "isolation" in Japan as one effort to initially address, in a meeting on loneliness which took place at the prime minister's office on March 12. He said, "It is essential that we get a handle on the actual nature of loneliness and isolation, and establish a plan-do-check-act cycle for related policy measures of each administrative field."

However, he also said, "As a precondition to this, it is necessary to make certain adjustments on how to perceive loneliness and isolation." Exactly who should be regarded as a lonely and isolated person becomes a central question.

It cannot be said that individuals who have a liking for solo activities, such as going to karaoke or camping out alone, are lonely or isolated. Sakamoto said, "Loneliness is a subjective emotion accompanied by feelings of forlornness," and he emphasized that loneliness is a negative feeling experienced by those who are isolated. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has expressed the intention to take measures to tackle "undesirable loneliness."

Meanwhile... less than 1% of the population of Japan have been vaccinated against Covid 19, testing numbers are shamefully low, and numbers of infections continue to be significantly underreported in order to promote the fallacy of a safe, viable Olympics...