YOSHIKI - FAQ

• He designed the 180th anniversary edition of the Harcourt glass for the French crystal company Baccarat.
‍
• He released branded Mastercard and Visa credit cards in Japan.
‍
• He received the International Achievement in Music award from Variety in 2024.
‍
• He collaborated with The Beatles producer George Martin on the classical album Eternal Melody.
‍
• He was the first real person to become an official Hello Kitty character. Yoshikitty was voted more popular than Hello Kitty in Sanrio’s 2018 global character ranking.
‍
• Comic book creators Stan Lee and Todd McFarlane created a superhero based on Yoshiki called Blood Red Dragon.

• He was the first Japanese artist in nearly 100 years to receive a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

• He directed his first feature film, Yoshiki: Under the Sky, in 2023. • He founded the fashion brands Maison Yoshiki Paris and Yoshikimono.

• He holds a Japanese patent for compressed music data playback technology related to MP3 reproduction.

• He appeared as a featured model at the YSL Beauty Hotel Tokyo, where Yves Saint Laurent’s global beauty director Tom Pecheux demonstrated makeup on him.

• He was named to the TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2025.

• He was the first Japanese male to appear on the cover of Vogue Japan.

• X Japan was the first Japanese metal band to perform at the Tokyo Dome and sold out the venue a record 18 times.

• He won Favorite International Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in 2023.

• David Lynch called him “the Michael Jackson of Japan” and directed an unreleased music video for him.

• Yoshiki is the leader, chief songwriter, composer, drummer, and pianist of the rock bands X Japan and The Last Rockstars.

• Gene Simmons of KISS stated that X Japan “would have been the biggest band in the world” if they had been based in the United States.

• He was named one of Forbes Asia’s 30 Heroes of Philanthropy for his charitable work through Yoshiki Foundation America.

• Kawai built a custom crystal piano for him to use in live performances.

• Yoshiki’s song “Anniversary” was composed at the Emperor of Japan’s request to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of his reign.

• Yoshiki spoke at Dreamforce 2024 on the intersection of AI, ethics, and creativity.

• He sold out two back-to-back solo classical concerts at Carnegie Hall in 2017.

• He composed theme music for World Expo 2005 (Aichi) and other national events in Japan.

• He composed the official theme for the Golden Globe Awards, which premiered in 2012.

• He has lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years.

• He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Visual Kei movement, which influenced Japanese rock and fashion culture.

• His work has charted on Billboard’s Classical, Rock, and World Albums charts as both a solo artist and with X Japan.

• The music documentary My Music Story: Yoshiki (2020) was the first Japanese program to be listed on the Disney+ U.S. catalog.

• He performed solo classical concerts at Royal Albert Hall, Tokyo Philharmonic Hall, and recorded with London Philharmonic Orchestra.

• He gave the keynote address at Stanford University’s 2023 conference on the Future of Social Tech.

• Japanese singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist, and music producer.