The Tokyo Olympics have ended, but it’s still vacation season in Japan, and many people are ignoring government pleas to avoid travel and stay away from bars and restaurants even as the coronavirus spikes at record levels.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is pinning his hopes on vaccinations, which started slow but now are making good progress. How this race between shots and disease finishes may determine Suga’s political future, not to mention the health of tens of thousands.

Japan has managed the Covid-19 pandemic better than many countries, without the kind of restrictive lockdown used in other nations, but some believe that may now be needed.

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