Pottya, the ‘chubby’ Japanese female pop group taking aim at fat prejudice

Competition is cutthroat among Japan’s thousands of pop idol wannabes, but a unique concept is winning fame for a band of “chubby” girls deploying their cheeky cuteness to combat prejudices against obesity.

Despite one of the lowest rates of obesity in the developed world, Japan has a growing number of underweight young women, who rely on excessive dieting to satisfy society’s emphasis on being slim.

Heavy people are the frequent target of jokes in the media and use of the derogatory “debu”, or “fatso”, remains common.

Enter “Pottya”, a pop group named after a slang word for chubby and consisting of four young women who are not especially hefty to Western eyes, but well above average weight in Japan. The group had previously performed with five members.

“People assume that being chubby is a sign of laziness or lack of self-discipline,” said Michiko Ohashi, the group’s heaviest member at 87 kg a height of 167 cm.