Popular South Korean girl group aespa had scheduled one of their tour concerts in Japan for July 7th, but it was canceled after some Chinese mainland netizens felt that “holding a concert in Japan on the anniversary of the July 7th Incident is disrespectful to Chinese fans.” Following the cancellation, the official announcement was made that the concert would be rescheduled to the end of July.
Initially, when aespa released the schedule for their concerts in Japan, Chinese fans of aespa expressed their concerns. They mentioned that the July 7th Incident was a significant event during Japan’s invasion of China and felt that it was disrespectful to both the Chinese member within aespa and the Chinese fans who significantly contribute to album sales. They requested the company to change the concert date.
Despite many international fans finding the request unreasonable, due to continuous protests from Chinese fans, aespa’s official Japanese website announced on the 11th of the month that the “2024 aespa LIVE TOUR – SYNK: PARALLEL LINE – in JAPAN” concert scheduled to be held in Fukuoka on July 7th was canceled due to numerous opinions received through various social media platforms and consultation channels. However, the concert scheduled for July 6th will proceed as planned.
As many fans who had purchased tickets for July 7th had already made travel arrangements including flights and hotel bookings, rescheduling the concert due to protests from Chinese fans has led to discontent among many fans.
Subsequently, aespa’s official Japanese website announced today that the concert originally set for July 7th will be rescheduled to July 30th and 31st at Marine Messe Fukuoka B Hall, while the concert on July 6th will proceed as scheduled.
The announcement stated that despite efforts to reschedule the concert at the original venue, it was a challenging task. As a result, the concerts on July 30th and 31st will be held at Marine Messe Fukuoka B Hall, while the event on July 6th will still take place at the original venue, Marine Messe Fukuoka A Hall.
The official website’s announcement also mentioned that those who had purchased tickets for July 7th could apply for tickets for July 30th and 31st. However, if the number of people wanting to attend on a specific date exceeds the venue’s capacity, a lottery system will be used to determine the attendees, and those not selected will have to apply for ticket refunds.