Yoshiki

Named by Consequence of Sound "one of the most influential musicians and composers in Japanese history", Yoshiki's film and television credits include composing music for Saw IV (2007), Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), Goemon (2009), The Golden Globe Awards (2012), and the hit anime series Attack on Titan (2018). His studio, multimedia, and on-stage collaborations include Gene SIMMONS (KISS), Stan LEE, Marilyn MANSON, Skrillex, Sarah BRIGHTMAN, and David LYNCH.

He composed the theme song La Venus for the X Japan documentary We Are X (2016). The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Special Jury Award for Best Editing and went on to win awards at SXSW before its nationwide U.S. theatrical release. We Are X has continued to garner critical acclaim with premieres around the world and invitations to over 30 international film festivals.

X Japan has sold 30 million singles and albums combined, and sold-out the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome 18 times, a record. Now the band's popularity is spreading throughout the world with sold-out performances in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. 

In 1999, Yoshiki was asked to compose and perform a piano concerto with a 77-piece orchestra to celebrate the tenth year of the Emperor of Japan's reign. In 2005, he composed the theme song and conducted the orchestra for the opening ceremony of the World Expo. 

In 2010, he launched Yoshiki Foundation America, a non-profit organization, which supports various charitable organizations, including the Grammy Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, as well as Japanese earthquake victims.

Three years later, he released his classical solo album, Yoshiki Classical, which included works co-produced by acclaimed Beatles producer Sir George MARTIN. The album debuted at #1 on the iTunes Classical Music chart in 10 countries, and featured performances by Yoshiki as both the composer and pianist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014, he performed his first Yoshiki Classical World Tour, with sold-out shows in 10 countries. That same year, X Japan headlined New York’s Madison Square Garden.

In 2015, Yoshiki introduced the Yoshikimono collection of rock-themed kimonos, inspired by his family’s kimono business. The following year, he founded the rock festival Visual Japan Summit with over 50 bands performing for sold-out audiences of 100,000 fans over 3 nights in Japan, ranking #6 in the top-attended music festivals in Japan that year.

In 2017, he performed two sold-out classical concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Yoshiki Classical Tour. Later the same year, X Japan headlined London’s Wembley Arena.

Beyond music, the legendary Marvel Comics icon Stan LEE created a superhero comic book based on Yoshiki titled Blood Red Dragon. Also, for the first time, a Hello Kitty product line was named after a person – "Yoshikitty". 

X Japan made their Coachella debut in 2018, and the band announced three sold-out concerts at Makuhari Messe in September 2018 for 100,000 fans. Due to a powerful typhoon on the final night, the group sent the audience home and performed an unprecedented "no audience" live concert broadcast for over 1 million viewers.

In October 2018, Yoshiki composed the theme song Red Swan for the Attack on Titan anime series, one of the most popular animations in the world, and the track reached #1 on iTunes Rock charts in 14 countries. In November 2018, he performed his sold-out classical concert series Yoshiki Classical 2018 at Tokyo International Forum with guest performers HYDE and Sarah BRIGHTMAN.

Yoshiki will create the theme song for the new xXx 4 film and TV series, currently in pre-production, and the upcoming animated feature Spycies, to be released in August 2019. Yoshiki is finalizing X Japan's first new studio album in over 22 years!

Yoshiki has been a special guest of Japan Expo several times and it is a pleasure to welcome him again for the 20th Anniversary of the festival: don’t miss his signing and show on Friday, July 5!