As he addressed the nation in an emergency news conference just over a week ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe couldn’t have set a more unconvincing example of how to engage in social distancing.
After all, he was speaking from a conference room in the Prime Minister’s Office filled with officials, security guards and a gaggle of photographers, not to mention a group of reporters sitting elbow to elbow in the entire front row.
Many watching the live broadcast couldn’t help but notice the irony playing out beyond the screen, taking to social media to point out how his news conference was the exact embodiment of the “Three Cs” — closed, crowded and close-range conversations — that Abe was urging the public to eschew.
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