Cameron Diaz, Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles of Save The Last Dance have cancelled their attendance at the 14th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival, citing security concerns.

The festival will present 140 films from 24 countries between October 27 and November 4 and is still hoping to welcome 51 international guests.

For years Hollywood stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Brad Pitt have been appearing on the stage of the festival's main Orchard Hall to present opening and closing films.

This year Cameron Diaz was scheduled to introduce the opening film Shrek in which she plays Princess Fiona. Diaz also canceled her visit to the festival last year to promote Charlie's Angels, along with other two principal cast members, due to a tight shooting schedule.

However, Shrek's producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and Disney vice chairman Roy Disney, who is presenting this year's closing film Atlantis: The Lost Empire are still on the guest list.

"We are aware of the terrorist threats and will beef up the number of police officers and security guards at the festival," said festival publicist Yoichiro Nakanishi.

The anthrax scare that hit the US is slowly spreading across Japan, though no confirmed cases have yet been reported in the media. The festival organisers are introducing strict security checks to the theatres and other festival venues of a type still rare in Japan.

Although some of the films in the festival relate to the current unrest in the Middle East, such as Wadi Grand Canyon 1981-1991-2001 by Israeli Amos Gitai, with its story about conflict and coexistence between the Jewish and the Arabs living in the suburb of Haifa, the festival is planning no change in its screening schedule.