Many boxes containing cloth masks procured by the Japanese government are seen in a warehouse near Tokyo on Dec. 1, 2021. (Mainichi/Takehiko Onishi)

       TOKYO -- Discarding a huge number of the Japanese government's unused cloth masks will possibly cost tens of millions of yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars), according to multiple sources affiliated with the government, but officials close to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are seeking understanding because "disposing of them is more cost-effective" than keeping them in storage.

       The large number of the masks in storage has become a major problem, and Kishida recently announced that the government will dispose of them by the end of fiscal 2021, which ends in March 2022. The storage costs between August 2020 and March 2021 reached 600 million yen (about $5.26 million).

       Among the so-called "Abenomasks" procured by the administration of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2020 as a countermeasure against the coronavirus, some 80 million are considered excessive inventory. According to a source close to the prime minister's office, those masks are treated as "national property," so choosing waste disposal operators requires procedures such as bidding. While the total disposal cost has not been finalized, the source expected that it would "probably be several tens of millions of yen."

       Kishida revealed in a Dec. 21 news conference that the government will distribute the masks to those who want them and dispose of the remaining ones by around March 2022. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno explained at a news conference the following day, "We're preparing to start distributing the masks as soon as possible to local governments and individuals that want them."

       (Japanese original by Shuhei Endo, Political News Department)

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