Cloth masks procured by the Japanese government, which remain stored at a warehouse, are seen in the suburbs of Tokyo on Dec. 1, 2021. (Mainichi/Takehiko Onishi)

       TOKYO -- In regards to the problem of a large stockpile of unused cloth masks procured by the Japanese government as a measure against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he "will see if there is any way to utilize them to be cost-effective."

       The statement was given at the House of Representatives budget committee session on the morning of Dec. 14 in response to questioning from Seiji Osaka, acting leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

       The storage costs for more than 80 million cloth masks had risen to about 600 million yen (roughly $5.28 million) by March this year, and have continued to rise since. The government plans to distribute the masks to local governments and individuals who want them, but Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Shigeyuki Goto only mentioned in the budget committee session that "it is difficult to answer how long it will take (to complete the distribution)."

       The Japanese government's initiative to distribute two cloth masks to each household in the country to help curb the spread of the coronavirus was promoted by the administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The masks were sarcastically dubbed "Abenomask" (Abe's masks), a play on the Abe administration's "Abenomics" economic policy mix.

       Kishida explained to Osaka, who asked about the possibility of discarding the masks, "First of all, I would like to find a way to make effective use of them." Regarding the validity of the mask distribution carried out by the Abe administration, Kishida said, "I would like to think once more about where and how to specifically verify it."

       (Japanese original by Hiroyuki Tanaka, Political News Department)

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