A FULL-PAGE newspaper advertisement says Japanese people will be “killed by politics” because the government is forcing them to endure the pandemic without vaccines. More than 300,000 have signed a petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled and a swimming star has faced pressure to drop out of the Games.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, meanwhile, has caused anger and confusion by repeatedly promising sceptical legislators that the Olympics will be safe, even as some hospitals struggle to find beds for the sick and dying and a state of emergency was extended today to more parts of Japan.

Only 1 per cent of the public has been fully vaccinated, even as millions of doses sit unused in freezers, and there’s deepening frustration over Suga’s request for people to endure more emergency virus measures amid ramped-up planning for the resource-draining Olympics, which are to start in about two months.

Last month, Suga declared a third state of emergency in Osaka, the centre of the current surge in virus cases, as well as in Tokyo and two other areas. That has since been extended to May 31. Today, two more areas, Aichi in central Japan and Fukuoka in the south, were placed under the emergency measures.

“No vaccine. No medication. Are we supposed to fight with bamboo spears? We’ll be killed by politics if things remain unchanged,” said the critical ad, which showed an illustration of a red coronavirus symbol on a World War II-era photo of Japanese children practising to fight with “naginata” sword-shaped sticks.

The ad by Tokyo-based publisher Takarajimasha, known for its outspoken stance on political and social issues, urged the public to demand that the government end poorly conceived coronavirus measures. “We have been deceived. What was the past year for?” it asked.

The publisher said many Japanese people have faced medical and financial problems with little government support. It suggested that the situation resembles Japan near the end of the war, when the government urged people to fight with sticks and mobilised schoolgirls for military training.

The ad caused a stir on social media. But there was also wide public interest in a session of parliament in which scores of opposition legislators asked Suga how he could guarantee a safe Olympics during an expanded state of emergency.

The prime minister repeatedly dodged giving a direct answer, saying more than a dozen times that he was committed to holding the Games safely and to protecting people’s lives and health.

Videos of Suga’s parliamentary remarks were shared on social media and people posted comments such as “The prime minister is broken.”

Suga and his government have faced criticism for being too slow and lax on virus measures. Even though Japan has managed to keep its number of cases and deaths below those in the United States and Europe without lockdowns and other mandatory measures, the results are worse than some other places in Asia.

Public frustration has even targeted Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee, who won a spot at the Tokyo Olympics after recovering from leukemia. Ikee tweeted recently that she had received messages that “pained her heart” by urging her to oppose the Olympics and not attend.

A petition demanding the cancellation of the Olympics has gained more than 300,000 signatures. It urges the government to spend the money earmarked for the Games on financial support for people in need of because of the pandemic.