'One Piece' singer stopped mid-song in Shanghai show

TOKYO:

Japanese 'One Piece' singer Maki Otsuki was forced to halt her performance on stage in Shanghai, her management said, marking one of the latest cultural events disrupted by a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.

Otsuki, known for the theme song of the hit anime, had been scheduled to perform for two days from Friday at the Bandai Namco Festival 2025 in the Chinese city. However, she "had to abruptly halt her performance due to unavoidable circumstances even though she was in the middle of performing", her management said on her official website on Saturday.

The incident comes amid a wave of cancellations of cultural events involving Asia's two largest economies. Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have deteriorated this month after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to take the self-governed island, reacted angrily to Takaichi's remarks, summoning Japan's ambassador and advising Chinese citizens against travelling to Japan.

The Bandai Namco Festival 2025 was scheduled to run through Sunday, but the organisers announced on the Chinese social media platform WeChat that the entire event would be cancelled after "comprehensively taking into consideration various factors", Kyodo News reported.

Popular Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who had been due to perform on Saturday, were also affected. Other artists and shows forced to cancel performances in China include pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki and jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, Kyodo said.

"I still strongly believe that entertainment should be a bridge that connects us, and that I should be the creator of that bridge," Hamasaki posted on Instagram after her Shanghai concert was cancelled on Friday, just one day before she was due to take the stage.