China cancels a Japanese boy group fan meeting; in Japan, a Change.org petition seeks to bar aespa’s appearance over NingNing, a Chinese member.

Following tensions over Taiwan-related remarks by Japan’s leadership, the dispute between China and Japan has spilled into the entertainment world. Reports indicate that a fan meeting for a Japanese boy group was abruptly canceled in China, while in Japan a Change.org petition has been launched to block aespa, which includes Chinese member NingNing, from appearing on NHK’s year-end Kouhaku Uta Gassen.

The petition, posted on Change.org on the 17th, had reached 50,000 signatures within a day and has since risen to about 70,000. The petition argues that Kouhaku is an important official event and that endorsing statements lacking in historical awareness would harm Japan’s international image and wound the memory of Hiroshima’s bombing. Commenters on the petition have remarked that they cannot forgive an idol who publicly praised such lighting.

NingNing had previously posted on social media in 2022 a lighting that some fans perceived as resembling an atomic bomb mushroom cloud, which fueled controversy in Japan. Observers note that aespa has become a focal point amid the current Sino–Japanese tensions, and whether they perform on Kouhaku could signal the state of those relations.