A commercial for Takasu Clinic, featuring Takasu Katsuya (left) and Japanese viral entertainment sensation Pikotaro (right). So far, the YouTube upload of the TV commercial has been viewed more than 1.2 million times. Screencap from official Takasu Clinic YouTube channel. NOTE: Since this article was published, Takasu Clinic has removed the video from YouTube. A prominent Japanese cosmetic surgeon has earned the condemnation of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a US-based Jewish human rights organization, after a blogger translated a series of his pro-Nazi tweets into English. Dr. Takasu Katsuya has apparently been tweeting his admiration for the Nazis in Japanese since at least 2015. Despite this, he remains a popular, if controversial media presence in Japan, regularly appearing on prime television programs and wildly popular commercials for his business. Reportedly a billionaire, Takasu, 72, has gained renown in Japan and throughout the world for his innovative approach to cosmetic surgery. After opening his first cosmetic surgery practice in 1976, he steadily grew a chain of clinics across Japan, while introducing liposuction to the country and patenting new techniques such as pubic hair transplants and armpit gland treatments. Takasu is a member of several prominent Japanese medical associations, as well as the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. Takasu is also known for making outrageous statements, as well as for his public feuds. In late August 2017, Takasu's decision to take Onishi Kensuke, a member of Japan's opposition Democratic Party, to court for defamation made headlines. However, when Estonia-based blogger Kino Toshiki, a member of Japan-based Counter-Racist Action Collective (C.R.A.C.), decided to translate some of Takasu's tweets about Nazism into English, Japanese media started to examine Takasu more closely, especially after the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that Takasu's Twitter posts “violate all norms of decency and reveal a person who is a racist antisemite and outright lover of Nazism.” On his blog, Kino Toshiki gathered and, with help from translator and activist Katsumi Takahiro, translated some of Takasu's tweets from October 2015. In them, Takasu expresses admiration for Nazism. He also denies that the Nanjing Massacre, committed by Japanese troops against Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants, and the murder of Jewish people and others at Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II had occurred: ユダヤ人が迫害されたのは間違いありませんが全てが連合国の情報によるものであり我々は伝聞によって知っているだけです。我々は南京大虐殺を信じている中国の人たちと同じではないでしょうか？真相が知りたいです。 https://t.co/MbZu5S2cqc — 高須克弥 (@katsuyatakasu) October 2, 2015 There is no doubt that the Jews were persecuted. But we only know it from hearsay and all of it is based on information from the Allies. Aren't we acting the same as the Chinese people who believe in the Nanjing Massacre? I only want to know the truth. 南京もアウシュビッツも捏造だと思う。 https://t.co/vd8V7Lkld5 — 高須克弥 (@katsuyatakasu) October 19, 2015 I think both the Nanjing and Auschwitz are fabrications. That particular string of statements was triggered by an initial tweet of his in which he credited a Professor Kuroki with showing him “how great Nazism was” (ナチスの偉大さ): ドイツのキール大学で僕にナチスの偉大さを教えて下さった黒木名誉教授にお会いした。励まして下さった❗嬉しい?なう pic.twitter.com/ngia6ijUYk — 高須克弥 (@katsuyatakasu) 2 de octubre de 2015 Reunited with Hon. Prof. Kuroki who taught me how great Nazism was when I was studying at the Kiel University in Germany. I’m so glad for having received his encouragement just now! Kuroki Yoshikatasu works as a surgeon specializing in hip replacements at Zama General Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, and sits as a board member on a number of national medical committees in Japan. According to his CV, Kuroki at one time headed the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Kiel, in Germany. As one Japanese Internet commenter remarked, Kuroki does not appear to have any specialist knowledge of history. At the time, many questioned Takasu's statements about Nazism and the war, sparking a Twitter debate that would last for several weeks in October 2015. For example, when asked, “I wonder how Dr. Takasu thinks about the fact that 200,000 people who were regarded as physically or mentally disabled were massacred by so-called ‘German medicine’ under the Nazi regime?” Takasu responded: 連合国のプロパガンダだと思います。東京大空襲では一夜で健康人の非戦闘員がそれ以上虐殺されています。それについて皆さんはどうお考えなのだろうか。 https://t.co/OjEVWbEqNu — 高須克弥 (@katsuyatakasu) October 3, 2015 I think it is Allied propaganda. In the massive air raid on Tokyo [during the war], far many more people were massacred in one single night. I wonder how you people think about that.