Photo/Illutration A postal worker puts cloth masks sent from the central government into a mailbox in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, on May 23. (Kaho Matsuda)

OTA, Gunma Prefecture--The saga of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s much-maligned free face masks took another odd turn as Japan Post Co. ordered post offices here that have been collecting unwanted ones to give to local children to cease doing so.

All Ota post offices from June 6 through June 7 removed boxes to collect the cloth face masks distributed by the central government.

The move came after Japan Post, which is tasked with delivering the masks to each household, deemed collecting unwanted ones went “against the government’s policy.”

Any plans to donate masks collected to date at the offices were reportedly scrapped as well.

Following complaints by residents that the masks were too small for adults, the Ota city government asked residents to donate unwanted ones to elementary and junior high school students.

On June 1, 21 local post offices placed collection boxes on their premises, calling on residents to donate a pair of the reusable cloth masks that the government began distributing in April to each household amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

One postmaster who joined the move put out a collection box bearing the message, “We accept face masks you do not need.”

In a news release the postmaster sent to the media about the donation drive, he referred to the masks as the “so-called Abenomask,” a name many have used to ridicule the prime minister’s safety effort.

“Post office workers will also cooperate (in donating the masks) as much as possible,” the postmaster wrote in the release, which stated that the post offices would accept mask donations until June 30.

But after a local newspaper ran a story on the post offices’ collection activities, some Japan Post employees raised doubts over whether collecting the masks was appropriate, the company said.

Japan Post then instructed the post offices to remove the boxes and banned soliciting donations of the masks.

“(We gave the instructions to stop soliciting masks) because we are the ones who are delivering the masks from the central government,” Hideo Murata, who is in charge of Japan Post’s research and public relations, told The Asahi Shimbun.

Murata also addressed a comment by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who urged the public to keep the masks for a possible second wave of infections.

“We cannot overlook the move to treat the masks as if they are unnecessary, which is against the government’s policy,” Murata said. “We shouldn’t use mocking terms, such as ‘Abenomask,’ to refer to the masks, either.”

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