In the midst of a truly busy week of about three conventions in real life, (not Anime conventions, but of Book/Publishing/Blogging conventions) I received an exclusive press invitation to Yoshiki being in New York to promote his monthly aired hour long Yoshiki Radio, that would be debuting May 27, 2011 on SiriusXM. Then on June 5, the show will be airing the first Sunday of each month at 9PM EST. The show will have Yoshiki choosing his samples of music, from various sources, inspirations, and there would also be anime music as well. (This is from the Press release, so I am possibly reiterating it for facts and clarity.
When I arrived at Sirius XM’s Main Office, Yoshiki was recording for his radio show. Near the entrance was an open bar, and behind it were tables. Toward the window there were two-three LCD screens showing clips of Yoshiki’s appearances over the years. Since the screens were muted, there were the background music of piano/instrumental Forever Love.
Waiting patiently, the area quickly filled up with invited media and fans. Finally the man everyone’s waiting for arrives!
There was a press conference, where media was allowed to ask questions.. and silly me.. forgetting to bring along a voice recorder. However I was able to take notes, so here is what I got.
- The reason why Yoshiki is doing this radio show, is because of a desire to be closer to fans. Fans have been a very big support to Yoshiki himself, and for X Japan.
- Yoshiki will be coming back to New York Ciy after his Europe tour.
- There was a request for X Japan to perform at larger venues like Madison Square Garden, and a question about X Japan touring with a U.S. star such as Lady Gaga. The possibilities are endless at this point, so Yoshiki will be seeing what can happen.
- Last year’s North American tour gave a confidence to X Japan on touring to places outside Asia.
- Yoshiki who has been taking more English lessons, has difficulty in pronouncing songs, and artists names.
- Other than working on X Japan’s Europe Tour, he has been working on a Hello Kitty theme.
I was actually able to ask two questions to Yoshiki, one: the status of his Stan Lee collaboration, and two: how successful has his foundation has been for Japan Earthquake Relief, so these were his answers.
- Issue 0 has been in the midst of being produced from the Stan Lee collaboration, where Yoshiki is portrayed as a hero.
- Yoshiki Foundation has recently raised around $150 million in donations from fans and supporters.
The press conference ended, and fans were treated to listening to X Japan’s latest song, Scarlet Love Song, which is the theme song to Osama Tezuka’s Buddha movie, that is going to be released in Japanese movie theaters on May 28, 2011. (Waiting for the release of this theme song, has been a bit of a challenge for me, since listening to the sample has made me want to listen to the full version, so I was quite happy. Of course I also hope that Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha gets to be released here with subtitles, and their English album.)
There was then a time of meeting a greeting. Chosen fans from Sirius Radio contest drawings were led in, and introduced to Yoshiki. Fans came from parts of the United States, and even from Japan. Yoshiki has a long reputation of being sweet and considerate toward his fans, so I believe I melted a bit. His right hand had recently been injured, and wrapped up. He has had such a time writing and using his left hand. Of course I wish for his speedy recovery, and continued health.
So here at Anime Diet’s Flickr are images I took from the event.
Yoshiki will be heading back to the West coast, heading to FanimeCon 2011.