On February 17, Mana Kawabe, representing Japan in figure skating at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics free-skated to the song “Miracle” composed by Yoshiki.
Yoshiki watched on from the United States and supported Kawabe via Twitter. He shined a light on current problems in the figure skating world, such as the current controversy over Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva being allowed to compete. However, Yoshiki’s message remained optimistic as he cheered on the Japanese athletes who are competing in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“There has been a lot of big news about the Beijing 2022 Olympic figure skating competitions here in the United States”, he tweeted, “To all the Japanese athletes, I am supporting you from America. Mana Kawabe will be free-skating using Miracle, a song which I composed. I would be happy if Miracle could provide [Kawabe] with strength”.
Although Kawabe did not place high, Yoshiki continued his messages of support. “She will come back strongly”, he tweeted.
Originally written and composed in Italian by Yoshiki as a classical song, Miracle is also used as an opener for X Japan’s shows. In 2018, a collaboration version was released with world-famous soprano Sarah Brightman. The combination of the majestic, beautiful melody with Brightman’s powerful singing voice brought “Miracle” to the Top 10 classical Music charts in 15 countries.
Songs composed by Yoshiki have been used by a number of championship skaters. In 1993, US athlete Midori Ito performed using X Japan’s Rose of Pain, while Mai Asada performed using Amethyst. From 2015 to 2016, Daisuke Murakami used Anniversary, which is a congratulatory song for the tenth anniversary of His Majesty the Emperor’s coronation. Yamato Tamura, who represented Japan at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, is famously a big fan of X Japan, using both Kurenai and Amethyst for his exhibitions.
You can watch Kawabe free-skate to Miracle below. The clip is from the Japan Figure Skating Championship Saitama 2021.
While you’re at it, you can also see Yoshiki perform Miracle with Sarah Brightman below.