'Masked Girls' seek undercover fame

Standing out from Japan's myriad girl bands can be a daunting task, but one group, the Kamen Joshi, or "Masked Girls" in Japanese, has found the answer by hiding behind masks.

As many as 15,000 people flocked to a concert by the band late last year, showing how its fan base has grown in the three years since it first started, when it struggled to fill a 400-seat theater.

One of its first breakthrough songs, Genkidane, hit the top of the charts in January 2015, with more than 200,000 records sold in the first week of release, said music company Oricon Style, setting a record for a female indie band in Japan.