The Yoshiki Foundation America is a California 501(c) non-profit organization, founded in 2010 by Japanese musician Yoshiki of the multi-million-selling rock band X Japan. A number of personal experiences brought Yoshiki to the launch of his foundation beginning with the loss of his own father when he was just a teenager. Like so many people around the world, he read news accounts and was deeply moved by the devastating effects of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe; in 2009, he paid an emotional visit to an orphanage in Sichuan, still reeling in its recovery, with so many children still displaced and orphaned. Additionally and as a tribute to Yoshiki's late X Japan band mate, Hide, who embraced the support of children with bone marrow disease, The Yoshiki Foundation provides funds to offer assistance through music to children with this debilitating illness. Music is what kept Yoshiki moving forward with his life after his father's passing, and bringing music to children in need is at the heart of his Foundation. While he was thankful he was in a position to donate several pianos and other musical instruments to the schools affected by the Kobe and Sichuan earthquakes, as well as having the children in the local orphanages as his personal guests at local X Japan concerts, he wanted to do more, something permanent and enduring.
The Yoshiki Foundation provides funds in a variety of ways, from the purchase of musical instruments, to providing music lessons, to arranging for a child and his family to attend an opera or rock concert or other music-related event. Yoshiki has also partnered with several world-renowned doctors and researchers to explore the interaction between music and the human brain, and how music could be used as therapy.
