Video shows performance by Japanese girl group, not military pilots
- Published on October 29, 2025 at 05:35
- 2 min read
- By Anne CHAN, AFP Hong Kong
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As Tokyo moves to ramp up its defence spending and increase military personnel amid concern over China, users on Chinese social media mocked Japan's efforts to attract recruits, citing a video purportedly showing women military pilots dancing. However, the clip actually depicts a Japanese girl group performing at a military base event.
"Female members of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force perform a powerful dance," reads the simplified Chinese caption on a Weibo post shared October 22, 2025.
It includes a hashtag saying: "Sanae Takaichi elected as prime minister." The 64-year-old conservative, long viewed as a China hawk, was named Japan's first woman prime minister the same day (archived link).
The clip shows about 20 women in khaki uniforms dancing in front of a fighter jet.
The clip was also shared in RedNote, Douyin, TikTok and X posts, with Chinese netizens ridiculing Japan's military for using any means necessary to attract recruits.
The long-pacifist nation fears China could attempt a forceful takeover of Taiwan -- the self-governed island it claims -- potentially triggering a conflict with Washington that could drag in Tokyo as well.
But it has struggled to convince enough young Japanese to enlist in the armed forces (archived link).
"Japan's Self-Defense Forces will stop at nothing in their efforts to recruit soldiers," said one Chinese-language comment, while another wrote the country has "gone into full-on propaganda mode".
Japan began upping its military spending in 2023 and aims to make it two percent of its gross domestic product by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, but has come under pressure from Washington to boost it even further.
New premier Takaichi has announced Japan would achieve the target of spending two years early (archived link).
In response, China's foreign ministry hit out at Japan for increasing its defence budget and relaxing restrictions on arms exports (archived link).
However, the circulating video shows a Japanese idol group, not military pilots.
A reverse image search of keyframes using Google led to the original footage posted by Japanese girl group Hokuriku Idolbu on Instagram October 5 (archived link).
"An overload of cuteness. P-suit version," reads the Japanese caption, with hashtags that say, "pilot suit" and "Reiwa 7 Komatsu air base festival." The seventh Reiwa imperial era is 2025.
The Komatsu air base is located in Ishikawa Prefecture in the northern Hokuriku region.
On the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's website, the timetable of the festival on October 5 showed displays of its fighter jets and the performance by Hokuriku Idolbu (archived link).
AFP previously debunked other misinformation about Japan's military forces here.
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