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

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 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 – 18 September, 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.