I am kidding although this is as extreme as your non reaction. Your reaction is that this is akin to deciding you don't want to go to pickup hockey today. Had a tough shift at work today, ate too many swedish berries at break time and i just want to hit the couch.
I am also going to say you have never run a major event because there is a bit more to logistics than putting five teams in a hat rather than six and make a schedule. You've sold tickets based on a certain number of games, there are officials to look after and typically hundreds of volunteers to coordinate.
I guess we just disagree on the severity of this issue - wonder if you would feel the same about Canada pulling out of the worlds juniors in Finland. "Beer is too expensive in Finland and the Americans play a little too rough. We are going home."
1) Non-reaction would be doing nothing and welcoming Japan back to IB next year. They are, however, getting relegated. So, in my opinion, punishment fits the crime. Since there wasn't much of a crime punishment isn't much either. But it is punishment.
2) This isn't a major event. It's based in a village with population of 4000. I'm not saying Japan not being there didn't affect anyone but it's not that big of a deal. Literally all you had to do is move your schedule a little and cancel hotel reservation. You probably also need one bus less. That is all. "Ticket sales" argument is weak to say the least, considering attendance numbers organizers lost 5000 euros, at most, because Japan wasn't there. They probably saved even more on arena operating costs and similar stuff.
3) You do realize that we are talking about the tournament with ~400 average attendance here meanwhile WJC has ~10k average attendance? But sure, if Canada felt they have a good enough reason to pull out and waste 2 years by not playing and playing in IA, I would allow it.
And frankly, Canada is a great example for this whole situation. In such situation, who do you think would have more leverage, IIHF or Canada? Does Canada need IIHF more or IIHF needs Canada? Same (to an extent, obviously) with Japan, it's in IIHF's best interest to keep Japan happy and not start "throwing books at them" for no good reason.
Or, while I was writing all this swissexpert just wrote pretty much exactly the same only shorter, straight and to the point:
It's not a big deal, although the reasoning is laughable. They get punished by an automatical relegation, that's enough.
They could also pay for the 5 hours work for the rescheduling and the ~100 not-sold tickets, doubt that will make any news.
