SMAP, the outrageously popular (and questionably good) Japanese boy band were due to play two nights at the Shanghai Stadium at the end of the October Golden Week. The shows were expected to be smash hits – apparently 80,000 tickets had already been pre-sold. You could have bought tickets HERE.
CNNGo is reporting that ticketing on the shows has been suspended, with an official from the organizing company stating that the postponement is due to technical difficulties relating to stage setup.
However, Japan and China have been at odds recently over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain who is alleged to have rammed two Japanese coast guard boats in disputed waters. China have declared that if the trawler captain is not released, then there will be “serious consequences”. There is as always, a world of difference between what is being reported on international news wires and Chinese ones.
Amid demonstrations in China that included ritual Japanese flag burning, the SMAP concerts were probably a risk too far. Security couldn’t be guaranteed, particularly in the wake of the Super Junior fiasco earlier this year. This is the second time China has been cruelly denied SMAP this year.