【Epoch Times News, December 10, 2025】Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki recently held an Asian tour concert, but due to the tense relationship between China and Japan, the previously planned concert in Shanghai had to be canceled even after the stage was set up. She and her team ultimately performed the show in an empty venue, drawing global attention. Surprisingly, on December 9, Hamasaki once again confirmed that the final stop of the Asian tour scheduled for January next year in Macau has also been canceled.
Following the cancellation of the concert in Shanghai on November 29, Hamasaki announced on Instagram on December 9 that the concert originally set for January 10 next year in Macau will be canceled. She stated that despite multiple negotiations between her agency and the organizers, the Macau concert had to be canceled due to “various reasons.”
Hamasaki expressed disappointment over being unable to conclude this tour in Macau after the cancellation of the Shanghai concert. She and her team felt “very aggrieved” and deeply saddened by the situation. She apologized to her fans and promised to create another opportunity to meet with them in the future.
Currently working with her team on compensation plans, Hamasaki mentioned that fans who purchased tickets for her Shanghai and Macau concerts could have priority access to tickets for her 2026 tour. She said, “Please give me some more time. I will do my best not to disappoint the fans’ expectations.”
On November 7, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takichi made remarks in parliament saying, “When something happens in Taiwan, it affects Japan.” This led to strong reactions from the Chinese Communist Party, including threats of war claiming that “Japan will have no strategic depth.” The tensions have extended beyond military drills to the media, diplomacy, and even the entertainment industry in Japan, with performers like Hamasaki facing forced cancellations of their shows in China due to so-called “force majeure factors.”
On November 29, Hamasaki performed a “concert without an audience” at the Oriental Sports Center of the Pudong Development Bank in Shanghai in front of 14,000 empty seats. Before leaving Shanghai, she released a black-and-white silhouette photo with the caption: “Promises must be kept till the end.” She announced that she had instructed her team to turn the “audience-less concert” into a documentary, which will be provided free of charge to ticket holders.
On November 30, Hamasaki posted nine photos of her “audience-less concert” on Instagram, showing her complete outfit, stage lighting, paper flowers, and other effects, all unaltered despite the absence of an audience. This garnered strong reactions both domestically and internationally.
One netizen wrote, “What force majeure? It all comes down to power. The unrestrained power of the Party-State in China is the force majeure.”
Another comment read, “I didn’t even know who Hamasaki was before, and now she has become my idol not because of her songs, her singing ability, or her beauty, but because she elegantly delivered a resounding slap in the face to absurdity.”
On another platform, someone wrote, “Hamasaki’s complete (even perfect) performance facing the full room of empty chairs has shown the world: a real strong person is not one who vents anger on the innocent, but one who confidently fulfills promises even in absurdities, making the untrustworthy and despicable unable to hide in shame!”
Veteran media figure Yan Chungou commented, “This is truly an unprecedented concert in human history. Hamasaki will be enshrined in the annals of human history because of this concert.”
While overseas supporters overwhelmingly stood by Hamasaki, on the evening of December 1, the CCP’s official media outlet “The Paper” (Pengpai News) was the first to release a statement attempting to debunk rumors, claiming that Hamasaki’s “solo concert” was fabricated and actually filmed during rehearsals. Lai Zonglong, who identified himself as a member of the camera team, publicly apologized.
Regarding this so-called “debunking,” sharp-eyed netizens pointed out that it was aimed at “deceiving people in the information cocoon” and an attempt “to shift the focus from the unjustifiable ban on the performance to issues of surveillance and rehearsal.”