We’d like to thank everyone who entered the X Japan contest. Whether you won a ticket or not, we hope that you will continue to rock out to a legendary band. We’ve highlighted the winning answers below so everyone can enjoy these spectacular entries!

Our New York, New York winner was Misaochan with this well written entry:

I… don’t even know where to begin on the reason ‘why’ I want to see them. They’re just… amazing. x Japan has been my ALL TIME favorite band since I can remember, they were the very first and only band I’ve ever felt an emotional connection with. hide was pretty much was, and still is my idol and both his and Yoshiki’s music has been my inspiration for everything. To be honest this band made me a stronger person. I was always the quiet one who never really spoke out or made friends easily, but discovering this band so long ago – long before they disbanded – hide’s unique style and bold stage presence, personality and his music influenced me into becoming a person who’s not afraid to do what they want, dress how I want, express myself the way I want without worry of how other’s would look at me. And Yoshiki’s lyrics… his compositions and everything are always so emotional, heart wrenching and really reach out to you, I’ve found inspiration for my art through his lyrics, I always fall back on their ballads to get through stressful days. Toshi’s voice – though rough in the unique way that it is, fits their style so well and he perfectly portrays the emotion in the songs. And as a band together, their stage presence is amazing from what I’ve seen through concert footage, but to see it in person would be amazing.

I feel like I need to be there to show my support for them, for the fact that even though they fell apart years ago and faced such a horrible tragedy and loss that they were able to come back together, make amends, and start again. There’s so many mixed feelings among the fan base on their comeback and their attempts to break through to America, but I stand firm in my support for them, and I always will. So for the one band I hold so close to my heart, to be able to finally see them would be a dream come true for me. I know theres tons of other fans, both new and old who would love to see them too…. but I would seriously probably cry from happiness if I got this chance to see them perform, it would mean more to me then I can even express in words which is why this turned out int such a long ramble with me trying to properly explain as much… Haha~

But regardless if I win or not, thank you for being kind enough to give all the fans this opportunity. <3

Seattle was represented by this lengthy prose that had a lot of heart behind it by Tiamat:

It was a total road of discovery which lead me to X JAPAN, so I think the ultimate destination for the end of that road would undoubtedly be X JAPAN live in concert.

I found out about the band only months after they had officially gotten back together, though at the time I wasn’t aware of that. I only knew that they were an older band with amazing music that I instantly fell in love with; so much so that I can’t even imagine how my life might be now had I never heard their sound.

3 years ago a fire broke out at my grandparent’s house (both of whom are Japanese) and due to their old age, were relocated to a Japanese nursing home. Sadly, only a year later my grandmother passed away and it became even more obvious than before that the house would not be returned to. Thus I was given the task of removing all items and furniture that had not been damaged and to organize them for the entire family to later sort through should they want to take something with them. While doing this I came across many things- things I remembered seeing around the house as a child and new things which I found interesting or aesthetically pleasing (clothing, books, pieces of art, etc), all of which were Japanese or Japanese influenced. The sadness of losing my grandmother and the beauty of some of these items prompted me to take them home; they were keepsakes of my childhood, my grandparents’ existence, and ultimately, unbeknownst to me at the time, the starting point of the journey that would lead to Japanese music and above all else, introduce me to X Japan.

As an artist I thought, “what other things like this could I find that might inspire me? What does this culture have to offer that I might thoroughly enjoy?” So I set out on none other than the internet.

Even though I find music the greatest of ‘the arts’, I had no idea what kind of music was made in Japan or where to start looking to find out. I didn’t even know Japan made metal/rock music, and as a lover of that genre’ that just shows how immense the boarder is between east and west media. So I did what most Westerners do when they think of Japan. I searched for anime.

After finding a few shows I also heard a few songs that I liked from the soundtracks they included in their episodes. I would research these shows to track down those songs and from there, the artist. After artist hopping for a while through Youtube I began to notice the words “X” or “X JAPAN” as a pattern in the comment section of countless videos. They revolved around people debating stuff about Japanese songs- the influence, which artist was better than the other, who started what, etc. X and X JAPAN constantly popped up as something more or less referred to as ‘The God of Japanese Metal.’

I couldn’t not look this band up.

They were good. The instrumentalists were very talented, extremely coordinated and technically brilliant and the singer could belt it out like nobody’s business. But it wasn’t until I found Art of Life that I knew it was all over. The deal was sealed. It was the live version from Tokyo Dome 1993 and I listened to it –a 30 minute song– 5 times in a row. I even know where I was and what time it was when I did this. It was that big of a deal.

The next day I looked up everything about the band: who the members were, who contributed what to the sound, how they came together, where they came from and (the biggest one) every song they made (I always drool over songs like “Rusty Nail”, “Orgasm”, “Celebration”, “Scars”, and “Weekend”).

X JAPAN’s track record is simply amazing. Who knew the drummer and pianist were the same person? How cool is it that hide paints his own guitar? How funny is it that Toshi became lead singer by chance?

But the band was from the 90s. They were all the way in Japan. hide had passed away.

And then one day I saw the news that… they’ve been reunited?

After the official reunion they made I.V., Jade, and mostly recently Born to be Free. They’re back and good as ever and finally within reach to all of us who never dreamed they would be. They’ve influenced me (no, pushed me) to pursue my own music. I’ve been writing songs like I never had before I discovered them. The messages in their songs give me energy and reassurance, they inspire me to be a better person and musician every single day. Yoshiki has become my musical muse.

I think it’s very sad hide isn’t around to perform with the band during these concerts, but I don’t think there could be any better 6th member than Sugizo (who I aso adore and would love to see live). I have no doubt each and every show will be amazing and I would CHERISH the chance to be a part of the history they’re making for themselves with this FIRST EVER AMERICAN TOUR!

With or without radio X JAPAN is going to be big here in America. This is only the beginning and once word gets out about how talented these guys are there will be no stopping them; I think they just might be the ones to break through that eastern-western boarder and make the big splash that Japanese bands have been trying to make for years. And for time to have lead me here right now while it’s all happening… It’s just simply amazing being able to watch it all unfold around me.

The only thing that could possibly top that is standing face to face with the music as X JAPAN plays it live right in front of me. A true ‘dream come true’ ending

We had two pairs of tickets to give away to those stars in Los Angeles, California! So the first winner was none other than Amy0817:

My little sister and I grew up listening to X-Japan in Korea, it was really hard to get their original albums since it was banned to sell Japanese music in public music store in Korea around ’90s ( Now they sell Japanese album everywehere), we could only get copied tapes or CDs or videos back then since getting their real album would cost us so much. It was our dream to get their original album in our hands one day.

I fell in love with Yoshiki and his amazing talent with music. I’ve always dreamt of learning how to play the drum and later I got in to college I finally started to take drum lessons. Love X-Japan’s inspiring music.

We were so sad when they decided to retire and watched the video of their last show at Tokyo dome over and over again hoping someday they will come back to the stage for their fans.

My sister was so shocked to find out about the death of Hide, since she loved Hide so much. My sister was only 9 years old and I was in middle school back then and I remember how long she cried and cried. We promised to go to Japan someday and visit Hide museum.

We found out they did the show in Hollywood recently and so bumped that we didn’t get to go and WOULD BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for 91.8 LOVE to go and DIE TO SEE X-JAPAN’S SHOW in person. WE WOULD LISTEN 91.8 ALL THE TIME FOREVER so please consider us to give this amazing chance to go to their show.

Thank you.

Our other winner, Anonymous_PS, wanted to make this concert what it was meant to be… a family event:

Seeing X JAPAN live in LA on their 1st US Tour would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience…which is why I quickly bought a ticket to the show already! 😛 However, it was pretty expensive when totaled with the upcoming cost of gas and a hotel, so unfortunately, my parents won’t be able to go to the show with me. 🙁 Now parents don’t seem like a good thing to take to a show for any reason, but my parents are not normal by any means…they’re ROCKERS!! 😀 My mom just loves high vocals and crazy drummers. She’s watched X JAPAN DVDs and videos with me and said she’d love to at the very least see Yoshiki live. My dad always appreciates a good metal band-especially when they put on an outstanding light and pyro show, which is why he loves X JAPAN. (He was even in Tokyo, Japan back in the day when X JAPAN would have been playing some of their biggest classic shows, but very unluckily, never stumbled upon their music! xD My dad wants to make up for that loss so badly!!) And for me… X JAPAN is the most talented band out there. I’ve tried to think of another band that could rival them, and I simply can’t. X JAPAN and hide have not only truly inspired me in music and art, but they changed the entire face of music for all of Japan. Now the rest of the world is about to find out why. With these tickets, me and the ‘rents could join that discovery. X JAPAN, a ROCK show good enough for the whole family! ;D

We’d like to thank everyone who participated and we hope the winners enjoy their prize. For those who didn’t win, better luck next time (as we happen to do contests quite often so who knows)! I’ve messaged each winner at the e-mail address they signed up with, and you must respond with the instructions left to you in said e-mail. If you have any problems please contact us immediately, thank you.