Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actor Raymond Lam Fung has cancelled two coming concerts in Japan, adding to a growing list of high-profile entertainment disruptions amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
Japanese promoter Promax Inc said on Wednesday that Lam’s “Go With The Flow in Japan” tour – originally scheduled for January 31 and February 1 at the Tokyo Garden Theatre – had been postponed indefinitely.
“After careful consideration and extensive discussions with all parties involved, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the performance due to unforeseen circumstances,” Promax said.
The concerts were set to be the 46-year-old singer’s Japanese debut after he enjoyed a surge in fame overseas as a result of his role in the martial arts hit Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. The blockbuster film had a successful run in the country, earning more than 570 million yen (US$3.6 million) at the box office and cementing its status as the highest-grossing Hong Kong production in Japan in two decades.
The previous Hong Kong blockbuster hit was Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s 2005 Kung Fu Hustle, which grossed 1.6 billion yen.
Late last year, fellow Cantopop singer Ekin Cheng Yee-kin also called off a Japanese concert scheduled for December 5 at the Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, attributing it to “unforeseen force majeure circumstances”.
Tensions rose in November last year after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that her country might consider military action if Beijing attempted to invade or blockade Taiwan.
