Anti-racist campaigners are celebrating a decision by Fuji TV to remove from a weekly music show a segment that purportedly showed performers sporting blackface makeup.

The broadcaster's decision represents a "victory" for people who had petitioned for a rethink of the Saturday edition of"Music Fair," said Baye McNeil, an African-American author and blogger in Japan who spearheaded the campaign over the past two weeks.

"(The decision) was very gratifying," said McNeil, who is also a contributor to The Japan Times.