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

       TOKYO -- Applications to get some of the tens of millions of cloth masks left over from a Japanese government mask distribution program early in the coronavirus pandemic will be extended by two weeks, after a flood of requests from individuals and organizations, the health ministry announced on Jan. 11.

       The masks, popularly dubbed "Abenomasks," were procured in 2020 by the administration of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But as of the end of 2021, some 80 million of them, worth some 11.5 billion yen (approx. $99.8 million), were still sitting in storage.

       The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry opened applications for the public to get some of the leftover masks on Dec. 24, 2021, and was set to accept requests until Jan. 14 this year. However, the ministry extended the deadline to Jan. 28 after getting about 85,000 applications by Jan. 6. These applications account for at least 8.5 million masks, as orders are accepted in units of 100, though the figure is still a long way short of 80 million. Many of the requests were apparently from individuals.

       "Without terminating the scheme, we'd like to distribute them to as many people who want as possible," a ministry official said.

       The Abe administration aimed to distribute two cloth masks to every household in Japan, but the program was beset by product problems including stains, mold and insect infestations. Some people sent the masks back unused because they were "unwanted."

       It cost the Japanese government some 600 million yen (about $5.2 million) just to store the leftover masks between August 2020 and March 2021. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided in December 2021 to give them away to anyone who wanted them, and instructed his government to dispose of the masks by the end of March this year.

       Instructions on how to get the masks can be found on the health ministry website at: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/mask_haifu_kibou.html (in Japanese).

       (Japanese original by Shunsuke Kamiashi, Lifestyle and Medical News Department)

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