Legendary J-rocker officially reveals his hometown for the first time.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Faxai took an unusual path over Japan. Instead of making landfall on the southwestern side of the country and hitting the islands of Kyushu or Shikoku, like most typhoons do, Faxai rumbled right over the Tokyo area, with Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo’s neighbor to the east, getting hit particularly hard.

Injuries, thankfully, were not extensive, but some Chiba communities suffered severe infrastructure damage, with extended, wide-scale blackouts occurring. While all this was taking place, legendary J-rock musician and X Japan leader Yoshiki was far away, on the other side of the Pacific in the U.S., but his thoughts were with the people of Chiba, and for a very personal reason, as he explained in this tweet on September 11.

“I am in the U.S. now. I just found out that my hometown of Tateyama, Chiba, and places across the prefecture, have been greatly damaged by the typhoon. I am very worried and praying that Chiba will recover as quickly as possible.”

However, Yoshiki realizes that no amount of thoughts and prayers is going to get people’s electricity running again, and so he’s also put his money where his heart is. On September 18, Yoshiki’s U.S.-based charitable nonprofit organization, the Yoshiki Foundation America, announced that the musician has made a 10 million-yen (US$92,600) donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society, to be used for recovery aid for typhoon-stricken parts of Chiba.

The generous gesture follows two other large donations Yoshiki made in August of this year: 10 million yen to victims of the Kyoto Animation arson attack, and US$100,000 to Earth Alliance in response to the Amazon rainforest wildfires. He also gave 10 million yen to relief efforts following typhoons in Japan last year.

▼ Tateyama (photo taken prior to typhoon)

According to the donation’s announcement, Yoshiki had not publicly revealed his hometown until now (though some fans seem to have had already figured it out), but decided to let his Tateyama roots be known in hopes of attracting more support for the city following the typhoon. “I have been based overseas for many years as part of my ongoing projects,” said Yoshiki, “but my feelings for my hometown have never faded. I am sorry that this is the only thing I can do to help. I hope my donation can be of some small help, and I am praying for Chiba’s recovery.”

Downplaying the generosity of a 10 million-yen donation might seem like a strange thing to do, but it’s entirely in character for a guy who once wrote a formal apology for his scarf’s behavior, as well as someone who, even though his passions have taken him around the world, has never forgotten where he came from.

Source: PR Times via Livedoor News/Oricon News via Jin
Top image: PR Times
Insert image: Wikipedia/Xser21
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