Kyodo News is reporting that SMAP's concerts at Shanghai Stadium on October 9-10 may get canceled due to an escalating incident between China and Japan. Ticket sales for the shows have reportedly been suspended already due to the high likelihood of cancellation.
Last month, Japanese officers arrested a Chinese fishing boat captain on charges that he deliberately rammed his boat into a Japanese patrol boat. He is currently being detained by a Japanese court despite Chinese opposition, leading to strained relations between the two countries. On Monday, China took moves to suspend much of its political communications with Japan, and there have been reports of other measures being taken on a commercial level.
With the matter currently unresolved, holding the SMAP concerts in Shanghai may prove to be impossible. As a result, organizers are apparently putting the concerts on hold for the time being.
SMAP was originally scheduled to perform their first China concert at the Shanghai World Expo on June 13, but that was canceled by organizers due to safety concerns.
UPDATE: The Chinese company responsible for organizing the concerts announced on Tuesday that they have officially decided to postpone the shows, due to "practical reasons." Tens of thousands of tickets have already been sold, and those fans will start getting refunds on September 25. (Tokyograph)
How unlucky... I first read about this in the newspapers today (there was a really small mention) and I was hoping that the news was incorrect!
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