Yoshiki Hayashi, who has been hailed as the "Bono of Japan", is on his own level when it comes to the Japanese music scene.

He has fathered the Visual Kei movement as the leader, drummer, pianist, and composer of X Japan, a heavy metal band formed thirty years ago that is still active and still selling out stadium concerts worldwide.

Yoshiki's got his own race car team and an array of products, ranging from his own Hello Kitty line, "Yoshikitty", to a Yoshiki Visa card issued by the Bank of Japan.

As a band, X Japan has attended Otakon in Maryland, Japan Expo in France, and performed at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, but this past weekend marked Yoshiki's first visit to FanimeCon - in fact, he flew to San Jose from his Los Angeles home specifically to meet and greet his fans for a Q&A panel.

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X Japan has been featured in many anime and film OSTs, leading to a widespread popularity in the anime fan community. In fact, the audience got an exclusive look at "Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku Yo! Utsukushiku,"�the film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's critically acclaimed "BUDDHA," which had been released in Japan that very day.�The trailer featured the film's theme song, "Scarlet Love Story," which was composed by Yoshiki and performed by X Japan. In addition to BUDDHA, Yoshiki revealed that he had also been asked to compose the theme song for "Astro Boy," but he had to decline (much to his reluctance) due to scheduling conflicts.

With a world tour well underway, X Japan is gearing up for a Europe tour in June and July (tour stops include London, Paris, Utrecht, and Germany), with concerts in Tokyo, South America, and Southeast Asia after that. "Then we're going to do a North American tour again," he laughed. The upcoming North American tour has confirmed stops in Northern and Southern California, Canada, and Texas.

"We really enjoyed the last North American tour. That was such an intimate feeling. In Japan, we kind of performed in [a] big place, even though the [audience] is pretty far away," he said. "But in the North America tour, you could feel fans' energy, you can see everyone's faces. Actually, I jumped into the audience a couple times... I was too excited."

"You get to see all the different cultures... taste a lot of food... every time after every show you're half dead - actually, pretty much dead," he admitted. "[The] best way to rejuvenate is to get drunk and party hard. Just kidding!"

When asked about his feelings regarding the Visual Kei movement that he had helped create, Yoshiki replied that X Japan was initially like the "black sheep of the family" due to their eclectic tastes which ranged from heavy metal to ballads. "Back then, everyone hated us," he explained. "We couldn't belong anywhere, so we were like, 'F*** it, we'll make our own genre.'"

The audience responded with rousing cheers and applause.

Yoshiki then discussed his journey to learn English.�"About twenty years ago, X Japan first came to America," he recalled. "We were supposed to debut through Atlantic Records.�We had a press conference in New York at the Rockefeller Center. A lot of press asked us... 'Why did you come here to America if you don't know English?' And we said, 'Well, we're going to learn.' So then I was in New York last week and I said, 'See, now I'm doing a press conference in English.' So you know nothing's impossible."

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In addition to his music, Yoshiki has debuted his own fashion line and hosted the fashion show, "Asia Girls Explosion", in March at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Stadium. Celebrity guests included musicians�Marilyn Manson and Heath, supermodel Ai Tominaga, and actresses Kaori Momoi, Jessica Stroup, Shenae Grimes, AnnaLynne McCord, and Olivia Palermo. Furthermore, the show marked Violet UK's debut performance in Japan.

Also, Yoshiki revealed that he had plans to debut his upcoming comic book, a collaboration with the legendary Stan Lee this coming July.�"Stanley and I are going to San Diego Comic Con. We're going to release Issue 0," he said. "I think we're going to issue several [in the future]."

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To wrap up the show, Yoshiki talked about the philanthropic work he has been involved with in recent years.

Two hundred orphans were invited to attend X Japan concerts in Osaka and Hong Kong. After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, Yoshiki personally visited the area and subsequently founded a non-profit charity organization, "Yoshiki Foundation", which has given aid to natural disaster victims, including those of the March 11th earthquakes in Japan. Three days after that earthquake, Yoshiki decided to auction off one of his most valued possessions, a Kawai signature crystal piano, then sent all profits to the relief effort.

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Yoshiki has certainly proven to not only be a special musician, but a special person as well, and tokyohive wishes him and X-Japan all the best in their future endeavors!

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Photography by: Boris Berenberg & Kevin Chang