Chinese netizens questioned whether the stunt was related to the South China Sea dispute
Japanese Youtuber Kinoshita Yuka’s latest stunt of eating 137 bananas in one sitting has resulted in a huge backlash.
Chinese internet users have criticised the food lover for deliberately eating bananas from the Philippines and that 137 bananas alludes China’s population of 1.37 billion.
China is currently in a dispute with the Philippines over banana production, following the International Court’s decision to rule in favour of the Philippines, denouncing China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea islands.
The Japanese Youtuber posted the video shortly after the South China Sea ruling last week. Kinoshita’s channel consists mainly of videos of her consuming large quantities of various foods.
Hong Kong Free Press reported one user who seems to have taken her video as a direct insult to China,
“During this sensitive period, you eat 137 bananas from the Philippines to insult China – do you have brains? Do you think us Chinese people can be easily bullied?”
Another comment read, “thank god she didn’t stop at the 64th banana, or the clip will say ‘this video contains sensitive terms and has been blocked.” This is in reference to the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre. Numbers and words related to the historical incident are still heavily censored in China and whilst Youtube is blocked in China, Kinoshita’s video was reposted on Chinese video sites.