Japan’s body positivity movement has cooled since its 2010s peak. Still, its plus-size industry remains resilient thanks to tight-knit communities, even as weight stigma lingers and artificial intelligence could mark another turning point.
In Japan, the movement has largely been grass roots, with social media driving change over the past 15 years.
“Before [social media], the average person was just a passive viewer. There were media outlets providing information, and people consumed it,” says Jun Takai, representative director of La Farfa, which manages Japan’s first fashion magazine for pocchari (chubby) women.
“But now we have platforms where people can actually participate, so they start increasingly putting out their own [plus-size] content.”
Debuting in 2013, La Farfa magazine helped normalise plus-size fashion and visibility in mainstream media. Demand was so strong upon its launch that it quickly shifted from a quarterly to bimonthly release.