A Japanese teeny-bop girl band triggers outrage after wearing military-style costumes that are compared to Nazi uniforms at a Halloween concert.
Keyakizaka46 sparks an online storm with their black one-piece dresses and capes, complete with peaked caps bearing a golden bird symbol resembling the Nazi eagle above a swastika.
Social media has lit up since the troupe took to the stage in Yokohama on October 22.
Members of Japanese girl band Keyakizaka46 wearing military-style costumes that were compared to Nazi uniforms. (screen capture: YouTube)
In a Twitter backlash, several users slam their choice of costume as “unforgivable” and “unacceptable” while Berlin-based Japanese writer Ichika Rokuso posts: “Seventy-one years have passed since the war ended but there are many people who lost loved ones. Please remember that.”
Other angry tweeters post pictures of Nazis next to images of band members, who posed for photos in their controversial garb before the show.
Keyakizaka46 shot to stardom since being formed in 2015 by producer and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto, reaching number one in Japan with its debut single “Silent Majority.”
— AFP
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