By Chen Wei-chen | 2025-12-11

As the lights came on at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center November 29, Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki stood alone onstage, performing to more than 14,000 empty seats.

On the eve of the concert, Chinese authorities abruptly canceled it, citing "force majeure."

Even as crews began dismantling the stage, Hamasaki completed the full set, bowing with her staff to rows of empty seats after her performance. Under the lights, confetti filled the air.

In a post on Facebook, Hamasaki wrote that although she faced "14,000 empty seats," she still felt "so much love" from her fans.

"Entertainment should serve as a bridge connecting people," she said.

The "no-audience concert" took place amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between China and Japan over Taiwan, and is the latest sign that Chinese retaliation against Japan has spread to the cultural sphere.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in early November told parliament that "a Taiwan contingency could constitute a crisis of national existence" for Japan.

The comment aroused outrage in Beijing. Following a series of diplomatic maneuvers, Chinese authorities began halting performances by Japanese artists.

Singing to empty seats

Photos of the "no-audience concert" quickly went viral.

The Paper, a state-linked Chinese media outlet, claimed the concert was fake, saying the photos were taken secretly during rehearsal.

As the dispute simmered, Mika Takahashi, Hamasaki's beautician, confirmed online that the concert had in fact taken place without an audience.

Japanese singer Maki Otsuki, known for a theme song of the long-running anime series "One Piece," faced a similar scene a day earlier.

Soon after she began performing at the Bandai Namco Festival in Shanghai on November 28, workers abruptly cut off the lights, projections and music. Two event staff members in black came onstage, took away her microphone and escorted her off as fans watched in disbelief.

The organizer later announced that the performance was canceled on the same grounds, ending all scheduled programs for the day.

Videos of the incident went viral internationally.

"This must be the most uncivilized way possible for Chinese censors to cancel a show," one user on X wrote.

A Taiwanese user said the move showed that "those in power… cannot tolerate the freedom of even a single song."

"Force majeure" has since become the go-to phrase used by Chinese authorities to stop Japanese cultural events. From late November to early December, more than 20 Japan-related events were cancelled with almost no warning.

When 80-year-old jazz musician Yoshio Suzuki was preparing to perform in Beijing, plainclothes police told the venue that any event involving Japanese participants was banned.

Japanese rally around their artists

Takaichi has sought to rally her country against the Chinese backlash, pledging to "create a future where Japanese music resonates in diverse markets such as Asia, Europe and North America," according to a recent post on X.

Japanese media widely viewed the cancellations as a deliberate act of pressure.

Shinichiro Azumi, an anchor for TBS Television, said China aimed to force the Takaichi administration to compromise.

Journalist Akio Yaita wrote on Facebook that the "indiscriminate coercive approach shows the Chinese government's disrespect for art and human rights."

He added that many Japanese social media users "strongly condemn the Chinese government's actions" and believe "Japan must not yield to such hooligan behavior."

By trying to shutter J-pop and anime and attacking mass entertainment, the cancellations "handed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a win and showed the world which side celebrates free expression" while Beijing risks its global standing, Bloomberg columnist Gearoid Reidy tweeted.