Regarding the April 9 story “Tokyo and central governments clash over what should shut in emergency,” I find it absolutely amazing that the economic revitalization minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, said during a videoconference that barbershops and beauty salons are “vital in maintaining lives.”

Surely we can stay alive for months without having a haircut or beauty treatment. It makes me wonder just what are the government’s priorities during this COVID-19 pandemic and also just how much personal vanity Japanese people have even in dire and dangerous times like these. Something is amiss somewhere.

Also, the wide use of the very inaccurate word “overshoot” to describe a spike in coronavirus infections reveals startling carelessness in the use of English words in this country.

Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.