When TV celebrity Miki Yakata was told she would need chemotherapy after undergoing a mastectomy in April, she realized she would have to buy a wig.
"I found a relatively cheap one made from synthetic fiber on the internet," said the 26-year-old, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of this year. "But when I first started wearing it, my hair was falling out and my scalp was very damaged. On top of that, I was wearing the wig every day and it soon started to deteriorate. I didn't know what to do."
Yakata was a member of Nagoya-based pop group SKE48 for eight years until she left in February 2017, and she understood the importance society places on appearances. She looked at wigs made with real human hair but was disappointed to find that the prices, generally ranging from ¥200,000 to ¥300,000, were beyond her means.