It has been confirmed that Janet Jackson's Japanese leg of her 'Rock Witchu' tour, which was supposed to kick off in 3 weeks, has been postponed due to the 'global financial crisis':

Janet Jackson is having a rough time of it. She split with her second major label in less than three years after her latest album, Discipline, failed to catch fire. Her 2008 Rock Witchu Tour was plagued by postponed and canceled dates due to an unexplained illness that was later described as severe vertigo.

And now the singer has been forced to postpone her upcoming tour of Japan due to the global financial crisis. According to BBC News, Japanese concert promoter Kyodo Yokohama announced on Monday that Jackson would be postponing the five dates the singer had scheduled in Japan between February 14 and February 22 "due to the impact of [the] economic crisis."

Jackson, 42, had planned to hit such major Japanese cities as Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka on the world Rock Witchu outing, which was her first major tour in nearly seven years. According to reports, the tour will be rescheduled for later this year with new dates expected to be announced in March.

The announcement comes on the heels of the recent news that Jackson's longtime boyfriend, rapper/producer Jermaine Dupri, has left his position as the head of Island Def Jam Records' urban music department after what he described as a troubled relationship with label boss L.A. Reid.