‘Umamusume’ concert cancellation highlights visa hurdles for Japanese performers

What should have been a victory lap for “horse idols” failed to get out of the gate this week, underscoring how difficult it is to bring Japanese entertainers to the world despite surging demand.

Developed by Japan’s Cygames, “Umamusume” turns racehorses into anime girls with big ears and tails. The multimedia franchise spans video games, anime and manga, with music playing a major role. Its first North American concerts were set to feature 17 voice actors performing at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on Oct. 22 and 23.

Yet all that was dashed on Oct. 20, when Cygames announced the shows had been canceled.

“Although we have coordinated repeatedly with all parties concerned and explored every possible option in our efforts to make this event happen, we were unable to obtain the necessary visas for entry into the U.S., so we have come to the painful conclusion that holding the concerts is no longer possible,” said an official statement on the “Umamusume” website.

Given the franchise’s popularity abroad — according to gaming website Automation, the official English-language version of the game, released last year, generated more than $22 million in its first month alone — the news shocked fans, some of whom wondered on social media whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and its stricter immigration policies had played a role.

The “Umamusume” cancellation highlights the challenges of taking Japanese performers abroad, even as global demand for Japanese content grows.

“The time needed to put together the paperwork takes months depending on the case and how they’re filing,” Rubab Rizvi, president of booking and promotion company Fake Star USA, says in a text message. She has spent nearly a decade helping artists, particularly Japanese performers, navigate the U.S. visa application process.

She says the application requires a long list of documents, including contracts, proof of income, show itineraries and letters of recommendation. “It’s not just for performers but also the essential crew, which needs to be tied to specific performers in most cases,” Rizvi adds. Applicants must also pay a fee and, in many cases, attend an in-person interview at a U.S. consulate.

The “Umamusume” show was ambitious, which also made it more difficult to pull off. All 17 announced performers would have needed visas if they didn’t already have them, as would the crew members accompanying them to LA. The process would have been time-consuming even without additional requests for evidence (RFEs), in which the government asks for more information about an application.

“I would say they probably received more than one RFE, which delayed the case processing by quite a bit, when it’s already a race against time,” Rizvi says. “There has been a huge increase in RFEs under the current administration, for small things like ‘This show hasn’t been announced.’”

Since the start of Trump’s second term, visa interview wait times have been affected by staffing shortages and increased demand, according to the Government Accountability Office. Greater scrutiny of applications can add another hurdle for performers and their crews seeing to enter the United States.

Visa complications have long plagued efforts to bring Japanese entertainment overseas. In the nearly two decades I’ve covered Japanese music, I’ve heard frequent accounts of mishaps and headaches associated with securing visas. It has never been an easy undertaking, regardless of who is in the White House, though the administration in power can affect the process.

The “Umamusume” cancellation should serve as a reminder to the entertainment industry of the importance of planning for such hurdles. Cygames said Oct. 21 that it plans to reimburse travel and lodging expenses to fans who were planning to attend the LA concerts, provided they meet certain requirements.

Japanese pop culture may be racing onto the world stage, but getting there takes more than an eager audience to cheer it on. It also requires careful planning and attention to the political and bureaucratic hurdles that can bring even the most promising tour to a halt.