I saw the photographs, reposted on Chinese social media platforms from the J-pop star Hamasaki Ayumi’s official Instagram account, of her concert in Shanghai in early November 2025. Confetti danced in midair, drifting down to the stage. The dancers smiled, arms lifted in their final pose. All around them, the arena was empty. In the caption of her Instagram post, she’d written: “With 14,000 empty seats but felt so much love [from fans] from all over the world, it was one of the most unforgettable show ever to me.”

After the announcement that Hamasaki’s concert had been cancelled due to “unexpected circumstances”—a euphemism used by the Chinese authoritarian regime to imply that something has been banned for political reasons—she insisted that the show go on to honour the hard work that had been put into the event. There’s speculation that the performance was recorded in the hopes that it could one day be shown to its intended audience.

The sudden cancellation had been announced in the middle of rising tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, after Takaichi Sanae, the Japanese prime minister, suggested that Japan might take military action if China launched an attack against Taiwan. Hamasaki wasn’t the only Japanese act affected: Otsuki Maki, another singer, was ushered off stage mid-performance, and the Chinese releases of two Japanese animated films were delayed.

• Tags: China, Issue 43, Japan, Luna Ruomin Huang