Jerry Shriver at USA Today has filed a report on X JAPAN's current bid to take North America by storm. An excerpt is available below:

Sudoku, animé and Hello Kitty have deftly bridged the Japanese-American pop-culture gap, so what's to stop a glam-metal band with a dreamboat drummer/marketing magnet and a singer who looks like late Elvis and sounds like early Wayne Newton?

Be prepared to say "Hello X Japan."

Asia's most successful rock act ever finally is discovering whether its Kiss/Metallica/Chopin-inspired bombast translates here as it concludes a seven-city tour this week — its first in North America, with stops tonight in Chicago, Thursday in Toronto and Sunday in New York — this week. Though the Tokyo-based band is more accustomed to staging three- or four-hour theatrical extravaganzas in sold-out arenas at home, these outings consist of a scaled-down show in 2,000- to 8,000-seat venues.

It has been a decades-in-the-making dream for drummer Yoshiki, who founded the band in 1982 with childhood friend and vocalist Toshi. Guitarists Pata and Sugizo and bass player Heath complete the mono-named roster.

"We have to be just ourselves and not try anything outside of what we are," says the soft-spoken Yoshiki Hayashi, 44. "Hopefully, America will respond to that."

Years of highs and lows

So far, the reception has been fawning. Nearly 8,000 fans (some of them brought in for the occasion) showed up outside Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in January when the group filmed a video on the rooftop. And an hour-long set at Lollapalooza in August drew a curious crowd of about 10,000, some of whom wore kimonos and cradled Hello Kitty's new "Yoshikitty" dolls.

"We knew there was a fan base in the States, but I didn't know how big or enthusiastic it would be," Yoshiki said after the festival performance. "So it was pretty good for the first big one. We got great energy, so we gave them back more of it."

Click here for the complete story. Go to this location for BW&BK;'s recent interview with X Japan drummer Yoshiki.

Remaining dates on the band's North American tour are as follows:

October

7 - Massey Hall, Toronto, ON
10 - Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY