Ayumi Hamasaki's Shanghai show & anime event cancelled following Japan-China row

An anime event and a J-pop concert in China have been abruptly cancelled, as tensions between China and Japan continue to build.

Popular J-pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki said she was suddenly asked to cancel her Shanghai concert on Nov. 28, according to NHK.

It had been scheduled for the next day.

Meanwhile, a Japanese anime event in Shanghai was cancelled after singer Maki Otsuki's performance was interrupted during the event, reported The Japan Times.

Otsuki, who sings the theme song for popular anime "One Piece", was midway through a song when the lights and sound were cut off.

She was then escorted offstage, reported Japan Today. Her agency attributed the interruption to "unavoidable circumstances".

The rest of the three-day event was cancelled.

What's going on?

Tensions have been growing ever since newly-minted Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made a series of controversial remarks over Taiwan.

She said that an attack by China on Taiwan may amount to a "survival-threatening situation" that may trigger a military response from Tokyo.

In response, China's consul general in Osaka said in a now-deleted tweet that "the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off".

A spokesperson from the Chinese defence ministry further warned that Japan would suffer a "crushing" military defeat if it ever tried using force to intervene over Taiwan.

The diplomatic spat has since led to China issuing a travel warning to its citizens to avoid travel to Japan, and hundreds of thousands of people cancelling their flights.

China has also suspended imports of Japanese seafood, halted exchange programmes with Japan, and cancelled dozens of concerts by Japanese artists.

Top image from Ayumi Hamasaki/Instagram and Byron Wan/X