KUMAMOTO -- A tweet calling coronavirus stupid posted by the mayor of this southwestern Japan city, in which four people have been found infected with the new virus, had garnered around 387,000 likes and some 84,000 retweets as of 1 p.m. on March 4.

Frustrated Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi tweeted on March 1, "Excuse me. I know everyone is having a tough time, but I'm also enduring emotional strain over measures against the new coronavirus. May I tweet to clear my mind?" He continued, "Corona you suck!"

Onishi set up his Twitter account back in July 2009 when he was a member of the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. Even after he took up his current post in December 2014, he has continued to spread information online by tweeting, coming to be known as "Twitter mayor" among netizens.

Many Twitter users apparently agreed with Onishi's post, with one commenting, "You're a mayor but also a human being, so you need to vent," while another tweeted, "You can get sick if you don't let out your feelings from time to time."

However, others have slammed the post, with one saying, "If you're a mayor you should choose your words." Some asked for consideration toward electronics manufacturer Corona Corp. in the city of Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, a company with the same name as the virus.

(Japanese original by Kohei Shimizu, Kumamoto Bureau)