Text extract: Japan Today “Gov’t sued over disclosure of Abenomask unit price, order numbers.”
Note: The “Abenomask” program was created by former Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe.
“A law professor sued the government Monday demanding it reveal the unit price of washable cloth masks, dubbed Abenomasks, that were distributed for free to all households in Japan amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as how many were ordered from each contractor.
In the suit filed with the Osaka District Court, Hiroshi Kamiwaki of Kobe Gakuin University claimed it is unreasonable for the government to withhold the information as it prevents discussion of the appropriateness of the policy to distribute the masks, which proved unpopular among the public with some questioning their cost effectiveness.” https://japantoday.com/category/politics/gov’t-sued-over-disclosure-of-abenomask-unit-price-order-numbers
The focus of May 2021 TOK Prescribed title #4 is an investigation of how statistics can be used to conceal and reveal. This RLE, as well as the coronavirus pandemic as a whole, have numerous links to this prescribed title:
- The information that the law professor wants may reveal information that could be problematic for the government
- One form of statistics – polling – and how this influences government policy
- How statistics influence how governments have handled the coronavirus pandemic