Jrock Revolution

Earlier this year, forty-three fans from all corners of the globe made an extraordinary journey to Japan to see X JAPAN live at Tokyo Dome. Even if you didn't get to go with them, you can read this detailed field report to find out why their traipse about Tokyo was truly one for the ages. Read on to learn more about X JAPAN: The International Experience!

—By Sarah D. 

It’s 1992. The heyday of metal has long since drowned in a mix of overused guitar lines and hairspray. Grunge is beginning to take over MTV’s airwaves, followed closely by synthesized club hits and boy bands. The whine of drugged out rock stars and love sick youngsters has caused you to lose faith in the popular music scene.  You want something new, exciting, and bold in these otherwise depressing and shallow times.

Your friend slips a mix tape in your Walkman, assuring you that this is something different, yet nostalgically familiar with its blitz guitar solos and glass-shattering vocals. It is indeed new, exciting, bold—and in a language you don’t understand. But you don’t care how different the language is from your own because this sound is taking you through a personal guided tour of a metal utopia. You ask your friend who this band is. He replies with a pleased smile, “They’re called X and they’re from Japan.”

Over the years, X JAPAN has gone from rock idols to music legends to metal martyrs. However, the fans remain the same: loyal, continuously astounded by the music, and ready to drop everything for a solid live concert. Even after their official disbandment in 1997, X JAPAN’s fans have been snowballing in numbers, increasing with every loaned CD, shared mp3, and uploaded YouTube video.

The international fan base is no exception. Thanks in large part to word-of-mouth on the internet, X JAPAN has garnered legions of fans from Singapore to Austria, the United Kingdom to Venezuela. Transcending cultures and languages, there’s no limit to the reaches of this legendary band. That’s why it comes as no surprise that when the announcement for X JAPAN’s reunion concert came in July 2007, about one thousand fans outside Japan bought their tickets to at least one of the three shows at Tokyo Dome through JRock Revolution.

Forty-three of those ticketholders also signed up for an exclusive, four day tour catering specifically to international fans. With Jrock as the theme and X JAPAN as the motivation, this isn’t your typical backpacking through Japan. Instead of fanny packs filled with maps leading to shrines and temples, these travelers pinpointed the LEMONed Shop, Bunken Rock Sidein Jimbocho, and Yokosuka’s RockCity. To those unfamiliar with X JAPAN, these places have no meaning. But for the Forty-Three, it’s a virtual pilgrimage through the life and times of living and deceased legends, ending in the X JAPAN concert to end all X JAPAN concerts.

For most, the journey starts thousands of miles away complete with passport troubles, missed flights, and bad airline food. Days before the beginning of the tour, the forum is ablaze with last-minute concerns, a few panicky private messages, and more than a handful of those wishing the days would pass by more quickly. It’s easy to see why nearly everyone arrives at the Shin-Yokohama Prince Hotel with a look of exhausted relief combined with inexplicable excitement. All those mishaps are soon forgotten. Only three more days until the concert and suddenly this whole “being in Japan” thing is more real than ever.

Most of the tour-goers arrive on March 25, later meeting up with some who spent a few personal days in Tokyo and other parts of Japan. It’s a virtual United Nations of X JAPAN admirers that gets more than a few stares from the business professionals passing by in the hotel lobby. While English is the main language of the tour, not all are native speakers. Conversations in French and Spanish can be heard floating through the halls.

Almost immediately, people begin mingling with those from other countries, curious about the Jrock scene overseas, the length of their flights, and where one can find various X JAPAN merchandise sported by some people. Amongst the first to arrive, Francois Bruzzese from Belgium makes a note about the different ways of life and different backgrounds of his fellow fans.

“It’s good for the band, good for the fans. We can see others and learn from them,” he says as he patiently waits for the arrival of other people.

His words hold more truth than he realizes. According to staff member Misha, the original ticket buying method was supposed to be the process commonly seen in Japan, meaning buyers would have to purchase their tickets within Japan. Knowing this would heavily limit the access of tickets for non-residents, JRR opted for a method that would open the concert up to overseas fans. Calling the chance to go see X JAPAN perform live for the first time in over ten years a privilege may be a bit of an overstatement, but the Forty-Three are certainly lucky to say the very least.

While the fans are to some degree aware of the uphill battle for this tour, the first day is a time for getting to know their fellow tour mates rather than worrying about the process that got them there. Many are meeting each other in person for the first time, even though a great number of the fans are familiar with online handles and avatar pictures from the forums.

It’s not long before the face is put with the name. “You’re Soren, right?” says staff member Krystal to Julien Lausson from France, one of the first to arrive in the early afternoon.

Just like tourists coming to Japan, he arrives at Narita Airport, Japan’s busiest international port. From there, he takes the arduously long train ride to Shin-Yokohama, about an hour from the hub of Tokyo. Upon arrival, tour goers are instructed to meet and sign in with staff in their make-shift office. And like most of the metropolitan Tokyo area, it’s cramped and bustling with people, but there’s a warm atmosphere that lets everyone know they’re amongst friends. When asked if they have any questions, most pat their grumbling stomachs and say, “Where can I get some food?”