Japanese singer Maki Otsuki, known for performing theme songs for the popular anime One Piece, was forced to abruptly halt her performance in Shanghai, her management said, amid a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.
Otsuki was scheduled to perform for two days starting Friday at the Bandai Namco Festival 2025 in Shanghai. However, her management posted on her official website on Saturday that she had to stop mid-performance due to “unavoidable circumstances.”
The festival, originally set to run through Sunday, was later cancelled entirely, according to organisers on the Chinese social media platform WeChat, citing a “comprehensive consideration of various factors.” Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, slated to perform on Saturday, were also affected.
This is part of a wider pattern of cancellations impacting cultural events between Japan and China. Other Japanese artists forced to cancel performances include pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki and jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara.
The cancellations come after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan, angering Beijing. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, summoned Tokyo’s ambassador and advised its citizens against travel to Japan.
Despite the setbacks, artists like Hamasaki have expressed hope that entertainment can serve as a bridge between countries. On Instagram, she wrote: “I still strongly believe that entertainment should be a bridge that connects us, and that I should be the creator of that bridge.”
The incident highlights how geopolitical tensions are increasingly affecting cultural and entertainment exchanges between the two Asian powers.
