Japanese feminist theater troupe fights misogyny in ‘cute’ Gothic Lolita fashion
Hina Haruka, a member of the radical feminist theater troupe TremendousCircus, poses for a photo while wearing a Gothic Lolita dress on a street in Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood. | AFP-JIJI
Sep 15, 2026
Donning doll-like dresses with voluminous skirts, young women on stage roar in rage about rape and the sexism they experienced in Japan, using theater and “cute” fashion to denounce a male-dominated society.
Meet TremendousCircus, Japan’s self-described radical feminist theater troupe that embraces the flamboyant Gothic Lolita aesthetic as a powerful symbol of womanhood and defense against sexual violence.
The global #MeToo movement didn’t quite catch on in Japan, and many survivors are too scared to come forward despite a handful of high-profile cases that have forced a reckoning.
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