“Checking the Prime Minister's Pancakes for Poison” (パンケーキを毒見する). Image remixed by Nevin Thompson. Pancake image by ajay_suresh, from Flickr (CC BY 2.0). As the Japanese government faces criticism for a rise in COVID-19 cases, uneven vaccination rollout, and perceived deference to the International Olympic Committee ahead of the summer Olympics, prominent commentators have claimed that Twitter Japan, Twitter's business unit in Japan, appears to be trying to protect Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and the government of Japan. These commentators have seen their accounts suspended and then reactivated after public outcry, with no reason provided by Twitter Japan. In each case, the user's Twitter account was frozen after criticizing the Japanese government. One of the suspended accounts, “Checking the Prime Minister's Pancakes for Poison” (パンケーキを毒見する), promotes the upcoming theatrical release of an animated satire that relentlessly parodies Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide. The title of the Twitter account and the upcoming film it promotes is a reference to the Japanese prime minister's attempts to use a love of pancakes as a prop to cultivate his public image. #パンケーキを毒見する に登場する、現在の日本の状況を風刺する５本の短篇アニメーションの一部を解禁致します。 手掛けたのは、「#パンパカパンツ」シリーズなどで知られるアニメーション作家のべんぴねこさんです。 pic.twitter.com/V0HykjMb0A — パンケーキを毒見する (@pancake_movie) July 9, 2021 In advance of our upcoming film “Checking the Prime Minister's Pancakes for Poison” (パンケーキを毒見する), we're releasing five short animated clips that portray the true state of things in Japan right now. You'll recognize the animation style from the Panpaka Pants animated series by Benpi Neko (“Constipated Cat”) The “Checking the Prime Minister's Pancakes for Poison” account, now restored after public outcry, was suspended by Twitter Japan after tweeting about the upcoming film on June 24. Twitter Japan provided no explanation for the suspension or the restoration of the account. Meanwhile, Nomachi Mineko, a prominent illustrator and commentator and a vocal critic of the Japanese government, was suspended and then reinstated by Twitter Japan in late June after making a series of tweets using the hashtag “Cancel the Tokyo Olympics” (#東京五輪の開催中止を求めます). Tweeting a screenshot of Nomachi Mineko's July 8 column in weekly magazine Bunshun, Uchiyama Yuto, the director of “Checking the Prime Minister's Pancakes for Poison,” noted that both accounts were suspended by Twitter Japan at around the same time. Uchiyama also noted that, in her column, Nomachi argues that Twitter Japan seems to automatically freeze accounts that are critical of the Japanese government. 文春の7/8号で能町さんが、本作の凍結騒動を書いて頂き、驚く事実ばかりが。なんと能町さんが凍結されたのは我々の2日前！ツイッター社の解除のメールも全く一緒！能町さんの分析も納得で日本のツイッター社のスタンスが問われますね。#パンケーキを毒見する #パン毒 pic.twitter.com/Hy3M5vW2hp — 内山雄人 (@taketwu) July 6, 2021 In the July 8 issue of Bunshun, Nomachi Mineko documented a surprising series of events around her account being frozen by Twitter. Her account was frozen just two days before our “Pancake” account was! And we both received exactly the same automated response from Twitter! Nomachi's reasoning of her ban [that her account was automatically locked by Twitter because she was critical of the government] makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of open questions about [Twitter's policy towards banning Japanese accounts]. After a backlash on Twitter, with Nomachi supporters tweeting thousands of times about the suspension, her account was reinstated without comment by Twitter Japan. Others have accused Twitter Japan of being unfair and opaque when it comes to suspending and restoring accounts. In another example from earlier in 2021, Twitter Japan suspended an account that debunked misinformation about COVID-19, instead of banning the accounts actually spreading misinformation. The Twitter user was banned after disputing claims from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare early on in the pandemic that PCR tests are not a reliable way to control the spread of COVID-19. In other cases outside of the Olympics and the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter Japan bans and suspensions appear to be politically motivated, unfair, or inconsistent. In one example, Twitter Japan suspended an account for disclosing a secret file central to an ongoing and unresolved corruption scandal where a government bureaucrat committed suicide after being allegedly framed for falsifying documents. The suspended account belonged to the wife of the deceased politician, and the secret files helped exonerate him. In another case, a Twitter account of a regional politician was suspended for three months, apparently for no reason.