It looks like Black Sabbath's "farewell" to Japan will have to wait.

The band's scheduled appearance at Ozzfest Japan, scheduled for November 21-22 at Makuhari Messe outside Tokyo, has been canceled; their slot will instead be filled by Sabbath singer and festival namesake Ozzy Osbourne, who's reportedly appearing with some "friends."

As previously reported, the Ozzfest Japan gig had somewhat confusingly been announced as Sabbath's "farewell" — and although many have assumed that this merely meant it would serve as the only Japanese stop on what's being billed as the group's final tour, it seems as though even Sabbath's representatives are unsure of what exactly is going on.

The Guardian reports that when they "asked the U.K. publicity firm that works for Sabbath if one of its other clients, Josh Homme, could write a tribute to Sabbath in the wake of the ['farewell'] announcement, the answer was only about Homme’s availability – there was no denial of the story itself."

This isn't the first scheduling snafu in recent Sabbath-related history, either: Osbourne, citing a need for surgery, recently canceled plans for a Mexican festival he'd dubbed Ozzfiesta. Here's hoping whenever the band wraps up its new album and actually does head back out on the road, things go a lot more smoothly.

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