(OT) Heavy Snowfall in Kanto That Has Killed 15 So Far Is Clearly Not Disastrous Enough for Prime Minister Abe...

The tweet (2/17/2014) by Asahi Shinbun's reporters attached to the Prime Minister's Official Residence says it all:

Reporters: What is your thoughts on the government's measures for the heavy snow?

PM Abe: Good Morning!

The twitter account of the PM Official Residence on Emergency Response Information did not have anything on the extreme snow fall in parts of Kanto, particularly Yamanashi, until the afternoon of Sunday February 16, 2014. Even then, it only retweeted the tweets by Ministry of Land and Infrastructure with the links to PDF files (as if people accessing the emergency tweets on their cellphones can easily open the PDF files).

There was a tweet by someone who called the PM Official Residence on Sunday to urge someone there to get busy on helping Yamanashi and other prefectures which are not prepared for this kind of snowfall. (In normal years, Yamanashi's snowfall is about 14 centimeters. This year, it is over 156 centimeters.) The call was received by a guard, who told this person to call back on Monday (weekday).

PM Abe himself had a tempura dinner (15,000 yen (US$150) per person, I hear) on Sunday with his supporters at an upscale restaurant in uptown Tokyo, as people stuck on the highways and roads in Yamanashi and northern Kanto survived on free bread provided by Yamazaki Bread.

Another heavy snow storm is expected this week, as early as February 17 or 18.

As to the new governor of Tokyo who said "Snow? What's the big deal?", his twitter account has nothing so far on the snow emergency, which is severely affecting the western (mountainous) Tokyo. The last tweet was on February 13 or 14, telling his followers he has been working very hard every day as the governor.

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