#japanese visual kei
It’s the final week for voting for your favorite Sanrio character- don’t forget to vote for YOSHIKITTY, the official Visual Kei character of Hello Kitty X YOSHIKI (X JAPAN)!
2022 Sanrio Character Ranking Official Site
About the stunning, unusual timing of YOSHIKI’s recent loss… both hide (years ago) and now YOSHIKI’s mother passed roughly within a week or so of each other.
In astrology, it’s something that you discover is actually quite normal for people, not an exception. Events connected to loved ones and people very important to you tend to cluster in hot spots on your chart, like a big speed bump in the road. I call these hot spots “whump spots” (taken from the fanfic term “whump”). These whump spots are so active and intense, they seem to echo year after year, but it’s actually that your natal chart is round, representing an annual a cycle, so it’s pretty much a guarantee that there’s going to be cyclical patterns in your life.
Whump spots are typically time period windows of about a week (before or after), where there’s birthdays, deaths, marriages/anniversaries, and significant events that overlap (usually painful, but not always). It’s like a heat seeking missile of stuff targeting a specific window of time on your chart. These event whump spots are actually one of the major markers you look for when you’re rectifying someone’s natal chart (Natal chart rectification is the process of calculating for someone’s exact birth time when their birth time is unknown. It’s eerily accurate to the minute, I can vouch for it first hand… I’ve rectified my own natal chart as well as musician’s charts.)
X JAPAN and YOSHIKI are such significant figures of Japanese Visual Kei, that his/their whump spots echo with other important Visual Kei artists/bands too. Here are some notable examples:
•「BLUE BLOOD」, the album that actually is responsible for the naming of the musical genre Visual Kei, was released April 21, 1989.
•BUCK-TICK’s landmark concert, 「SWEET STRANGE LIVE」 was filmed the 8 or 9th of May, only one week after hide’s passing.
•The GazettE is celebrating their 20th anniversary, and just held their first concert for their anniversary tour. Their first single was released April 30th, 2002.
•L’Arc~en~Ciel’s first album was released April 27, 1993, and they’re holding their tour final for their 30th anniversary in one week from now.
In life, when you notice these patterns, particularly when you’re dealing with losses, though it’s difficult navigating the process of mourning, recognizing whump spots… can actually help. It’s a spot of strong significance for you, and it can verify how important these people are in your life, like a massive astrological memorial was set up since the very beginning. Whump spots get activated by other intense events also, which is incredibly comforting and validating too, when you’re feeling like the world doesn’t recognize how bad or significant that “something” is to you… it’s like the cosmos itself agrees. 
From YOSHIKI’S official Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CdiES8tgXwd
父 (my dad), Hide, Taiji, 母 (my mom)
(He’s listed the losses chronologically, not by priority)
Here’s the YouTube link that he shared:
PULLIP-TAEYANG has just revealed photos of the official Atsushi Sakurai (BUCK-TICK) 「TOUR 2020 ABRACADABRA ON SCREEN」 BJD.
You can preorder the doll from their website at the following link:
SAKURAIATSUSHI X TAEYANG | GrooveOfficialPullip
*** (part 2 of 2, because there’s so many photos Tumblr won’t publish them all in a single post) This post is for archiving purposes, because the companies always yank down the web pages after they sell out, and it would get lost to time.***
The 1st photo archive post on my blog is here:
PULLIP-TAEYANG has just revealed photos of the officialAtsushi Sakurai (BUCK-TICK) 「TOUR2020 ABRACADABRA ON SCREEN」 BJD.
***(part 1 of 2, because there’s so many photos Tumblr won’t publish them all in a single post)This post is for archiving purposes, because the companies always yank down the web pages after they sell out, and it would get lost to time.***
You can preorder the doll from their website at the following link:
SAKURAIATSUSHI X TAEYANG | GrooveOfficialPullip
The 2nd photo archive post on my blog is here:
Just received word from FISH TANK that the 「ATSUSHI SAKURAI x TAEYANG」 BJD preorder is about to go live.
Strangely enough, Pullip has decided that they’re opening pre-orders for it on Friday the 13th during Mercury retrograde. 
It’s just been announced in Japan…
YOSHIKI (X JAPAN) has a collaboration with Coca-Cola of Japan for energy drinks: “REAL GOLD X ROCK ENERGY” and “REAL GOLD Y Classical Energy”.
From YOSHIKI’s yoshikichannelofficial, official Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdYDQpCpLt5
Imai’s pulling Imai head games in his video post today- it’s been a while since the last time. He’s says he recorded his theremin tracks today, and the video shows him doing so… but he’s muted the sound so that we don’t hear a preview of what they’re creating, and says that we should imagine it.

From Imai’s official Instagram.
Here’s the link to view this might-as-well-have-been-a-gif video post:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdSxSiSpBGv

Imai got a new pet theramin. See it in action on his Instagram- swipe over once on his post for a video at the recording studio (and Hoshino conveniently “accidentally” caught in the background relaxing and drinking coffee): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdISwKrJWNU
Heads up, FISH TANKers!
BUCK-TICK is going to be presenting their FISH TANKers ONLY concert videos for streaming on their website again. You must be a member of their official fan club to access it.
Each concert video will be accessible to view for 12 hours only, from noon to midnight JST (Japan’s time zone).
May 1, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2008」
May 8, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2009」
May 15, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2011」
May 22, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2013」
May 29, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2014」
June 5, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2017」
June 12, 2022:
「FISH TANKer’s ONLY 2018」
No links are available yet- they usually send them to us via weekly emails a day or so ahead of time.
Imai has found a handy new use for a studio guitar stand.
From Imai’s official Instagram.
RAZOR/ 「Disclosure」
The website for the limited edition Pullip TAEYANG x ATSUSHI SAKURAI doll just went live. It’s nothing but a partial photo teaser right now. The doll is going for USD $215.
SAKURAIATSUSHI X TAEYANG | GrooveOfficialPullip
A significant update on Imai’s hip situation- he says that he had a progress checkup and it’s getting closer to full bone density in the knitted break, and is still doing physical therapy for it. He also said he’s wondering if he will be able to start running soon. Note that he still has his rabbit headed cane there in the photo, and would have balked at dragging it around if he didn’t need it still.
And he dropped more- he said that his appointment was before he hit the studio today, and he’s been hinting that for days. He’s definitely got to be recording something.
Well, if they go by their usual recording schedule, they’re due for another album- 「ABRACADABRA」 was from September 2020 after all, and it’s their 35th anniversary year. 「Go-Go BT TRAIN」 was basically a filler release because they couldn’t tour for 「ABRACADABRA」 from the pandemic, and they had wanted to tour (until he broke his hip, that is) and needed the new release excuse.
From Imai’s official Instagram.
YOSHIKI (X Japan) posted a video with Sanrio’s YOSHIKITTY character (an official Sanrio tribute character for over 10 years), asking everyone to vote for YOSHIKITTY during the annual Sanrio character vote event. You can vote daily until May 23, 2022.
Direct to the character voting link here:
2022 Sanrio Character Ranking Official Site
From YOSHIKI’s official Instagram. (Screenshot of the video)
Link to watch the actual video:
Wondering if BUCK-TICK is recording something for their 35th anniversary? Imai looks like he could be tossing out hints this week…
From Imai’s official Instagram.
Listening to BUCK-TICK right now, and a memory from years ago came flooding back.
I’d turned on an online pal to BUCK-TICK (as typical of fans back then) and had mailed to her several BUCK-TICK CDs from a record shop in Japan as a birthday present, to start her collection. She was playing it at home shortly thereafter, and said her boyfriend decided to mock it and did jerk-off gestures with his hand to the baseline beat, to be an asshole.
What was side splitting was, being sung in Japanese, he didn’t realize that was what the song was about.
YOSHIKI really wants Sanrio’s tribute YOSHIKITTY to hit #1 in the annual Sanrio character ranking vote. (You can vote once daily through to May 23rd) He’s started posting requests for everybody to vite in multiple languages on Instagram, and has asked: “If Yoshikitty becomes #1, what would you like me to do?”
My suggestion was a little on the larger side, but involves his charitable foundation. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to set up myself, if by some strange stroke of fortune, I discovered myself financially comfortable, since I don’t have children or family.
“Set up an annual
grant/prize through your foundation
for mid to lower income foreign
students who pass the JLPT level 2
Japanese language fluency exam
(normal high school fluency level),
that awards a couple of them flights
to Japan, lodging, and a budget to
attend a couple of Visual Kei
concerts to reward their efforts.”
What would you ask him to do?
Vote character #11 YOSHIKITTY here daily:
