TV personality Anna Murashige 村重杏奈 just graduated from the Japanese idol group HKT48 in December 2021. However, the 23-year-old Murashige is now in the spotlight again for a different reason: She was subject to hurtful online comments for no other reason than her parentage.

Born from a Russian mother and Japanese father, Murashige lived in Russia until she was 6 years old and speaks conversational Russian. According to an article in the Sunday Yamaguchi, she used a Russian catchphrase meaning "Hello everyone. I love all of you very, very much," and went by the nickname "Anya" during the ten years she performed as an idol in HKT48 (and at one point in NMB48).

Here is a photo she posted to her Instagram showing her as a little girl living in Russia:

Murashige appeared on the March 17 broadcast of "news zero" (NTV) in a segment on the ongoing war betwen Russia and Ukraine. According to NetLab, she explained that she has relatives in Russia as well as friends in Ukraine . She then said: "It is very painful to see on the news that the country where I was born and raised is at war every day. I believe that war should never be fought under any circumstances. I wish for peace as soon as possible from Japan."

Commenting on her appearance in the show on her Twitter account, she then made the following disturbing revelation:

However, she followed this up with a statement seemingly directed at those who had sent her hurtful comments, perhaps under the mistaken impression that her mere parentage somehow indicated that she supported war:

Fans were quick to respond with an outpouring of messages of love and support, to which Murashige replied:

It's good to see that "Anya" has a strong spirit! Let's hope the nasty comments stop now.