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Alyssa Chen

Japanese fashion brand WEGO has scrapped a plan to launch a new range in collaboration with the hit anime and manga franchise My Hero Academia after it triggered an angry backlash from Chinese consumers.
The Tokyo-based company triggered an outcry on Chinese social media after announcing it would release an exclusive range of My Hero Academia-themed clothing.
The franchise was widely condemned in China over a 2020 controversy about a character that conducted lethal human experiments – a topic which evoked memories of the notorious wartime Unit 731, responsible for the deaths of thousands of mainly Chinese prisoners.
The character’s name, Maruta Shiga, added fuel to the fire, because maruta (or log) was a derisive name given to the subjects of the unit’s human experiments. Some social media users also suggested that the surname Shiga was a reference to the scientist Kiyoshi Shiga, who has a bacterium named after him.
The proposed launch date for the line – September 18, the 95th anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, which served as the pretext for Japan’s invasion of China – further inflamed tensions.
The furore underscores the persistent grass-roots acrimony over Japan’s imperial history that continues to sour relations between the two countries.
Tensions between the two governments have also been running high for months, and the controversy happened to coincide with a visit to China by Japanese lawmakers intended to ease tensions.
WEGO, which is planning to open its first Chinese flagship store in Shanghai later this month, has been growing rapidly in Asia’s largest market.
It proved its drawing power in 2024, when a pop-up store in Shanghai generated 4 million yuan (US$560,000) in sales in six days.
Its store on China’s largest e-commerce platform Taobao – whose parent company Alibaba also owns the South China Morning Post – sells more than 300,000 items each year.

The retailer’s Chinese subsidiary issued an apology on social media on Friday, saying it “respected [Chinese] public sensibilities”.
It added: “This collaboration was planned and launched in Japan by our Japanese parent company, WEGO, solely for the Japanese market. We deeply apologise for our failure to exercise adequate due diligence in the content.”
Meanwhile, the Japanese parent firm posted a one-sentence notice of cancellation citing unspecified “circumstances” on Saturday.
There has been no comment on the current row from My Hero Academia, but in 2020 its creator Kohei Horikoshi promised to change the character’s name, saying he took the issue “very seriously”. Both the artist and Shonen Jump, the magazine that published the manga, said there had been no intention to make any historical allusions.
Earlier this year, another popular manga franchise, Detective Conan, was boycotted at several Chinese comic conventions over a collaboration with the creators of My Hero Academia.
Meanwhile, diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Beijing are at their lowest ebb in a decade.
The current chill set in after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that an attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan justifying military intervention.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Japan, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.
Beijing retaliated by freezing high-level ministerial dialogue, suspending imports of Japanese seafood and tightening export restrictions on dual-use goods and rare earths.
Tourist numbers also dropped significantly, and in the past two months nearly a third of scheduled passenger flights from mainland China to Japan were cancelled. Both countries have also significantly increased visa fees for visitors.
However, some Japanese politicians and trade groups have been trying to restore communication channels.
On Sunday, an eight-member cross-party parliamentary delegation from the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union began a three-day visit to Beijing.
The group, led by Masahiro Komura, a member of the ruling Liberal Democrats, is scheduled to meet officials from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and tour international trade exhibitions.


Another parliamentary delegation led by Shinichi Isa, from the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, also visited late last month.
During a meeting with Chinese officials, they were told that the relationship between the two countries was facing “serious difficulties and the root causes are clear”.
Meanwhile, a delegation from the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade headed by former foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya is scheduled to visit at the end of the month, according to Kyodo News.
The body, which serves as a channel for trade and economic exchanges with China, visits nearly every year for high-level talks. Last year it met Premier Li Qiang and is now seeking to meet President Xi Jinping.


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China-Japan relations

Japan’s WEGO fashion brand is latest firm to feel force of Chinese consumer backlash

WEGO’s manga-themed collaboration has triggered a backlash in China. Photo: WEGO

The clothing brand, which has been expanding its presence in China, has been hit by calls for a boycott. Photo: WEGO

How Japan is digging in to deter – and withstand – a conflict over Taiwan

Illustration: Brian Wang

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Japan Ground Self-Defence Force soldiers observe a Type 88 surface-to-ship missile launcher, during joint military exercises with the US and the Philippines in Ilocos Norte province, northern Philippines, in May. Photo: Reuters

Type 90 battle tanks of the Ground Self-Defence Force take part in a live-fire exercise in Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan, in June. Photo: AFP

The USS George Washington carrier strike group and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force vessels sail in formation during the Valiant Shield exercise in the Philippine Sea in June. Photo: Handout

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News

China

Diplomacy

WEGO scrapped a collaboration with an anime and manga franchise that triggered controversy with a perceived reference to wartime atrocities


WEGO scrapped a collaboration with an anime and manga franchise that triggered controversy with a perceived reference to wartime atrocities.


Japan

Taiwan

Tokyo

Sanae Takaichi

Japan’s WEGO fashion brand is latest firm to feel force of Chinese consumer backlash

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}WEGO scrapped a collaboration with an anime and manga franchise that triggered controversy with a perceived reference to wartime atrocities

WEGO scrapped a collaboration with an anime and manga franchise that triggered controversy with a perceived reference to wartime atrocities