Perfume: The Life Story Behind Japan's Techno Trio

Perfume are three women from Hiroshima who turned electronic pop into a kind of theatre. When they stand on stage, the music is exact, the dance moves are exact, and the lights seem to move with their bodies. Nothing looks loose or careless. That control is the point. A Perfume show feels less like a normal concert and more like a machine that has learned how to dance, and the three members are the calm centre of it all.

The group is made up of Ayaka Nishiwaki, known as A-chan, Yuka Kashino, known as Kashiyuka, and Ayano Omoto, known as Nocchi. They have been together for most of their lives. They met as children, they grew up in the same city, and they learned to sing and dance together before any of them could imagine a life in Tokyo. Their story is not about one sudden hit. It is about a slow climb, year after year, from a small local act in Hiroshima to one of the most respected pop groups in Japan.

What makes Perfume different is that they did not follow the usual path for a girl group. They did not change their sound to chase every trend, and they did not break apart when fame arrived. They found a producer who understood them, a choreographer who built a whole visual language for them, and a sound that was cold, bright and futuristic. Then they kept that sound and made it better, album after album, until the whole world could see what they had built.

Three Girls Meet in Hiroshima

Perfume began in Hiroshima in the year 2000, when the members were still young schoolgirls. Ayaka Nishiwaki, Yuka Kashino and a third girl, Yuka Kawashima, met at a local acting and dance school called Actors School Hiroshima. The school was a place where children in the city could learn to sing, dance and perform, and it gave the girls a first taste of what it meant to work as a group. They were not stars yet. They were pupils, learning steps, learning songs, and learning how to stand on a stage without fear.

The early group was a local act, and its name came from the idea of perfume, something small that leaves a strong impression. In those first years the girls performed in Hiroshima, at local events and small venues, and their sound was closer to the idol pop of the time than to the electronic music that would later define them. They wore simple clothes, they sang simple songs, and they worked hard at the basics. The important thing was not the style. It was the bond between them, and the habit of practising together until the work felt natural.

In 2001 the group changed in a way that shaped its whole future. Yuka Kawashima left, and Ayano Omoto joined in her place. Omoto, who became known as Nocchi, fitted in quickly, and the three who remain today were now together. A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi were still teenagers, and they had no guarantee that the group would last. Many school groups break apart when members leave, when school gets harder, or when families move. Perfume did not break. The three girls kept going, and that decision, made when they were very young, became the foundation of everything that followed.

Hiroshima itself mattered to the story. It was not Tokyo, and it was not Osaka. It was a smaller city, far from the centre of the Japanese music business, and a group from Hiroshima had to work harder to be noticed. The girls travelled, they performed where they could, and they learned to be patient. They also learned to rely on each other, because in a small city a young group has few people to turn to. That patience and that closeness stayed with them when they later moved to Tokyo and faced a much bigger world.

Moving to Tokyo and Finding a New Sound

In the early 2000s Perfume moved to Tokyo, the centre of the Japanese music industry, and the move changed the group. Tokyo was faster, busier and more competitive, and a small group from Hiroshima could easily have been lost there. Perfume kept working, and they kept looking for a sound that would set them apart. The turning point came when they began to work with the producer Yasutaka Nakata, a musician and producer who was building a new kind of electronic pop in Japan.

Nakata gave Perfume a sound that was very different from the idol pop they had started with. His music was built on clean electronic beats, bright synthesiser lines and voices that were treated like instruments. The songs were catchy, but they were also cool and modern, with a science-fiction feeling. The first result of this new partnership was a change in the way people heard the group. Perfume no longer sounded like a local school act. They sounded like the future, and that was exactly what Nakata had intended.

The group signed with a major label and released their first major single, Linear Motor Girl, in 2005. The song was not a huge hit at first, but it showed the direction they were going in. The music was fast and electronic, the dance was sharp, and the three members looked confident in a way they had not before. The single did not make them stars overnight, but it gave them a place in the Tokyo music scene, and it gave Nakata and the group a chance to keep building.

In those years Perfume also began to work with the choreographer Mikiko, who would become as important to the group as Nakata. Mikiko created dance routines that were precise, geometric and almost robotic, with arm movements that looked like lines being drawn in the air. The dances were hard to learn, and they needed the three members to move as one. When it worked, the effect was striking. The audience could see three people moving in perfect time, and the music, the dance and the lights all fitted together like parts of one machine.

Polyrhythm and the First Real Breakthrough

The breakthrough came in 2007 with the song Polyrhythm. The song had a complex, layered rhythm, and its chorus was bright and joyful, but it was the way the song was used that made it famous. It was chosen for a television advertisement for a recycling campaign, and millions of people in Japan heard it every day. The advertisement showed the group dancing in a clean, white space, and the song stayed in people’s heads long after the advertisement ended. Polyrhythm became a hit, and Perfume suddenly had a national audience.

Polyrhythm was important for another reason. It proved that electronic pop could be a mainstream success in Japan, and it proved that Perfume were not a short-lived novelty. The song was clever and unusual, with a rhythm that was harder than most pop songs, but it was also easy to enjoy. People who had never thought about electronic music found themselves humming it, and people who loved dance music respected it. The group had found a balance between art and pop, and they would keep that balance for the rest of their career.

After Polyrhythm, Perfume released their first major album, Game, in 2008. The album went to number one in Japan, which was a major achievement for a group that had started in a small city and had worked for eight years to reach that point. Game collected the singles they had made with Nakata, and it showed a complete sound: fast, bright, electronic, and full of energy. The album also showed that the group could fill a whole record without losing their style. It was not one hit song and a collection of filler. It was a full statement.

In the same year Perfume performed at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, a venue that is a mark of success for Japanese acts, and they also performed at the Tokyo Dome, one of the largest venues in the country. For three girls from Hiroshima, standing in front of tens of thousands of people was a long way from a local school stage. They did not change their approach for the bigger venues. They kept the same precision, the same dances, and the same calm confidence, and the bigger stages only made the work look more impressive.

Tokyo Dome, World Tours and a Global Stage

Once Perfume had reached the top in Japan, they began to look further afield. They toured in Asia, and they began to perform in Europe and the United States, where audiences were curious about a Japanese group that sounded so different from the pop music they knew. The group performed at festivals and in concert halls, and they found that their music crossed language barriers. People did not need to understand every Japanese word to enjoy the beat, the dance and the visual show.

One of the most famous moments in their international career came when they performed at the Coachella festival in California in 2019. Coachella is one of the biggest music festivals in the world, and it is a place where many acts dream of playing. Perfume were the first Japanese girl group to perform there, and their set was widely praised. They brought their full stage show, with precise dancing, bright lights and electronic music, and the audience responded with warmth. It was a sign that the group had become more than a Japanese success. They were now a global act.

Perfume also became known for their use of technology on stage. They worked with digital artists and engineers to create shows in which their movements were tracked and turned into light, and in which images moved around them in real time. These shows were not just concerts. They were a mix of music, dance and science, and they showed how far a pop group could go when it treated technology as part of the art. The group worked with teams in Japan to build these effects, and they kept pushing the idea further with each tour.

At home in Japan, Perfume continued to release albums, including Triangle, JPN, Level3, Cosmic Explorer, Future Pop and Plasma. Each album kept the electronic sound that Nakata had built, but each one also tried something new, whether it was a different rhythm, a different kind of song, or a new way of using the voices. The group also performed on the biggest television shows in Japan, including the year-end music programme that is watched by millions. They had become a fixture of Japanese pop culture, and they had done it without losing the precision that made them special.

Hard Work Behind the Perfect Image

Perfume look effortless on stage, but the work behind that image is hard. The dances are difficult, and they need constant practice. A small mistake in timing is easy to see when three people are meant to move as one, and the group have spent years rehearsing until the moves feel automatic. They have also had to keep their voices strong while dancing, which is a skill that takes years to learn. The calm faces they show on stage hide a great deal of physical effort.

The group have also had to deal with the pressure of being in the public eye for so long. They became famous as teenagers, and they grew up in front of an audience. That is not easy. Every change in their look, their sound or their personal life is noticed and discussed. Perfume have dealt with this by keeping their private lives private and by letting the work speak for itself. They rarely give interviews about personal matters, and they focus on the music and the performance. That choice has helped them keep a long career without the kind of public drama that has ended many other groups.

There have been difficult moments, as there are in any long career. The music industry changes quickly, and a sound that is fresh in one year can feel old in the next. Perfume have had to keep finding new ideas while staying true to the sound that made them famous. They have done this by trusting Nakata and Mikiko, and by trusting each other. The three members have been together for more than twenty years, and that long partnership is itself a kind of strength. They know each other’s habits, they know each other’s strengths, and they can work together without the friction that breaks many groups apart.

The group have also had to look after their health. Dancing at that level, night after night on tour, is hard on the body, and the members have spoken in general terms about the need to rest and to look after themselves. They have not made a public show of these difficulties, but the fact that they are still performing at a high level after so many years is a sign of how seriously they take the physical side of their work. A Perfume show is not just singing. It is a full-body performance, and it needs a body that is fit and well cared for.

The Sound, the Dance and the Style

The Perfume sound is built on electronic music, but it is not cold in the way that some electronic music can be. Nakata’s productions are bright and melodic, with hooks that stay in the mind, and the voices of the three members are blended so that they sound like one voice with three parts. The songs are often about love, about the future, and about the feeling of moving forward, and they are written in a way that is simple enough to sing along to, even if the rhythm is complex underneath.

The dance is just as important as the sound. Mikiko’s choreography uses the whole body, but it is the arms and hands that people remember most. The movements are sharp, clean and geometric, and they often mirror the electronic sounds in the music. When the beat changes, the dance changes with it. The three members move in perfect time, and the effect is hypnotic. It is a style that has been copied by many other groups, but few have matched the precision that Perfume bring to it.

The visual style of the group is also part of the story. Their costumes are often simple and futuristic, in silver, white or black, and their hair and make-up are kept clean and neat. The stage design is often minimal, with lights and screens doing the work, rather than a clutter of props. This clean look fits the music, and it makes the dance easier to see. The audience is not distracted by too much decoration. They can watch the three women move, and they can hear the music clearly.

Perfume have also influenced fashion and design in Japan. Their look has been used in advertisements, in magazines, and in collaborations with designers and technology companies. They have worked with brands on campaigns that use their image and their music, and they have become a symbol of a modern, technological Japan. That is a long way from a school in Hiroshima, but it fits the group. They have always looked forward, and their style has always been about the future, not the past.

Still Performing and Still Moving Forward

Perfume are still active, and they are still releasing music and performing live. They have now been together for more than two decades, which is a rare achievement for any pop group, and they have done it without a long break or a change in members. Their later albums, including Future Pop and Plasma, show a group that is still curious about new sounds, and still willing to try new ideas. They have not become a nostalgia act, playing only their old hits. They keep making new work, and they keep touring it.

The group have also kept their connection to Hiroshima, the city where they started. They have performed there, they have spoken about the city, and they have kept a sense of where they came from. That connection matters, because it reminds the audience that Perfume are not a product of Tokyo alone. They are a group from a smaller city who worked their way to the centre, and who kept their identity along the way. That is part of why their story is admired in Japan.

In recent years Perfume have continued to use technology in their shows, and they have continued to perform in Japan and abroad. They have also marked anniversaries, looking back at their career while still looking forward. The group have shown that a pop career does not have to be short. It can last for decades if the work is good, if the members trust each other, and if the audience can see that the group still cares about what they do.

Their legacy is already clear. Perfume changed the sound of Japanese pop, they brought electronic music to a mainstream audience, and they showed that a girl group could be built on precision, technology and art, rather than on image alone. They also showed that three people who met as children could stay together, grow up together, and build a career that lasts. That is a rare thing in pop music, and it is why Perfume are remembered not just for their hits, but for the way they made them.

The Albums That Built the Sound

Game was only the start of Perfume’s album story, and the records that followed showed how the group grew without losing their identity. Triangle, released in 2009, was brighter and more playful than Game, with songs that were built for dancing and for summer, and it showed that Nakata could write a pop album that was also an electronic album. The group toured Triangle in Japan, and the shows were bigger, with more lights, more screens, and more confidence from the three members, who were now used to playing in arenas and who knew how to fill a large stage with only their dancing and their voices.

JPN, released in 2011, was a more mature record, with songs that were slower in places, more emotional, and more varied in their rhythms. It included the song Laser Beam, which became a hit, and it showed that Perfume could write a song that was both a dance track and a love song, with a melody that stayed in the mind long after the music stopped. The album also showed the group’s growing interest in the visual side of their work, with music videos that used computer graphics, with costumes that were more futuristic, and with a look that was becoming more polished with each release. JPN was a sign that Perfume were not a group of one album. They were a group that could keep making strong records, year after year.

Level3, released in 2013, was named after the third level of a game, and it was a more experimental album, with songs that mixed electronic music with pop, with rock, and with dance. The album included 1mm, a song about a small distance between two people, and it showed Nakata’s ability to write about feelings in a way that was both simple and clever. Level3 was also the first Perfume album to be released in a way that reached audiences outside Japan more directly, with the group touring in Europe and in Asia, and with their music being heard by people who had never been to Japan. The album proved that the Perfume sound could travel, and that it did not need translation to be understood.

Cosmic Explorer, released in 2016, was a bigger, more ambitious record, with a space theme, with songs about the stars, about travel, and about the future, and with a tour that used new technology to create a show in which the members’ movements were turned into light. The tour was a major event in Japan, with the group playing in large venues, and with the audience seeing a show that was unlike any other pop concert. Future Pop, released in 2018, was a return to a brighter, more pop sound, with songs that were joyful and danceable, and Plasma, released in 2022, was a more recent statement, with a mix of old and new, and with a sound that was still unmistakably Perfume. Each album added something new, and each one kept the core that had made Game a success.

Perfume in Advertisements, Television and Daily Life

Perfume have become a part of daily life in Japan in a way that few pop groups achieve. Their songs have been used in advertisements for many different products, from drinks to electronics to cars, and their image has been used in campaigns that show a modern, technological Japan. The most famous of these was the recycling campaign that made Polyrhythm a hit, but there have been many others, and each one has introduced Perfume to people who might not otherwise listen to electronic pop. An advertisement is a short moment, but when it is seen by millions of people every day, it can change a career, and Perfume have used that power well, choosing campaigns that fit their image, and that show their music in a good light.

The group have also been regulars on Japanese television, including the year-end music show that is watched by families across the country on New Year’s Eve. Performing on that show is a mark of success in Japan, and it is a sign that a group is trusted by the public, not only by young fans. Perfume have performed there many times, and each performance has been a showcase for their dancing, their music, and their precision. They have also appeared on talk shows, on variety shows, and on music programmes, where they have talked about their work, their rehearsals, and their lives, in a calm, modest way that has made them popular with a wide audience, from teenagers to older viewers.

Their music has also been used in films and in video games, and their image has been used in collaborations with fashion designers, with technology companies, and with artists who work in digital media. These collaborations are not only about money. They are about the group’s interest in technology, in design, and in the future, and they show that Perfume see themselves as artists, not only as pop stars. They have worked with engineers to create stage effects, with designers to create costumes, and with filmmakers to create music videos, and each collaboration has added something new to their work, and has kept them curious about what is possible.

My Take:

I think the first thing that strikes me about Perfume is how patient their story is. I have read so many pop stories where a group is found, polished, launched and forgotten in three years, and Perfume are the opposite of that. They met as children in Hiroshima, they worked for years before anyone outside Japan knew their names, and they were still learning when most groups would have given up. That patience is rare, and I admire it more than any single hit song, because a hit can be luck, but twenty years of steady work cannot be luck.

When I listen to Polyrhythm now, I hear a song that is cleverer than it first sounds. The rhythm is not simple, the chorus is bright, and the whole thing feels like it is moving forward all the time. I think that is a good picture of the group itself. They are always moving forward, always a little ahead of where the listener expects them to be, and they never sit still long enough to become boring. I also think the song worked because it was used in an advertisement that millions of people saw every day, and that reminds me that success is not only about talent. It is also about being in the right place at the right time, and being ready when that moment comes. Perfume were ready, because they had spent years practising.

I am struck by the partnership at the centre of their work. Yasutaka Nakata gave them a sound, Mikiko gave them a dance language, and the three members gave the whole thing a human centre. I think many pop groups fail because they have only one of those things. They have a good song but no visual identity, or they have a good look but no sound of their own. Perfume have all three, and the three parts fit together so well that it is hard to imagine one without the others. That is not an accident. It is the result of people working together for a long time and learning to trust each other.

What I find most impressive is the discipline. I watch a Perfume performance and I see three people moving as one, and I know how hard that is. It is easy to dance well on your own. It is much harder to dance in perfect time with two other people, night after night, while singing and while lights and images move around you. I think the group have made that difficulty look easy, and that is a kind of magic in itself. The audience sees the result, not the rehearsal, but I keep thinking about the rehearsal, because that is where the real work happens.

I also think about what it must have been like to grow up in public. A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi were teenagers when they moved to Tokyo, and they were still very young when they became famous. I have seen many young stars lose themselves in that situation, and I respect the way Perfume have kept their private lives private. They have not turned their personal lives into a show, and they have not chased attention for its own sake. They have let the music and the dancing do the talking, and I think that choice has protected them. It has also protected the audience, because we can enjoy the work without feeling that we are watching someone fall apart.

There is a sadness in their story too, even though it is not a tragic story. The sadness is in the cost of perfection. To move like that, to sound like that, to look that calm on stage, takes a huge amount of time and energy, and it leaves little room for a normal life. I do not know the details of their private lives, and I do not want to guess, but I can see the shape of the cost. When you spend your whole life in rehearsal rooms and on tour buses, you miss ordinary things. I think that is a price that every long-running pop group pays, and Perfume have paid it quietly, without complaining in public.

I wonder sometimes whether people outside Japan understand how unusual Perfume are. In many countries, a girl group is expected to be warm, soft and emotional, and Perfume are cool, precise and futuristic instead. That coolness is not coldness. It is a different kind of warmth, the warmth of people who have worked together for so long that they do not need to show off. I like that. I like that they do not try to be like everyone else, and I like that they have made a whole career out of being different in a calm, confident way.

The Coachella performance in 2019 stays in my mind because it was a test. A Japanese group, singing in Japanese, performing electronic pop at an American festival, could easily have been ignored. Instead, the audience responded, and the group were praised for the quality of their show. I think that tells me something important about music. A good performance does not need translation. The beat, the movement and the energy are a language of their own, and Perfume speak that language fluently. I find that hopeful, because it means that good work can travel, even when the words do not.

I also think about Hiroshima, and about what it means to come from a smaller city. Tokyo is where the music business lives, and it is easy to think that you have to be born in Tokyo to succeed. Perfume prove that this is not true. They came from Hiroshima, they kept their connection to that city, and they brought something of that place with them to Tokyo. I think that is a useful lesson for anyone who feels far from the centre of things. You do not have to start in the centre. You have to start where you are, and work well enough that the centre comes to you.

What would I say to a young person who wants to be like Perfume? I would say, find people you can trust, and stay with them. Find a sound that is yours, and do not change it every time a new trend arrives. Practise until the hard things feel easy, and then practise some more. Keep your private life private, and let your work speak for you. That sounds simple, but it is very hard to do for twenty years, and that is why so few groups manage it. Perfume have managed it, and that is the real achievement.

I do not think Perfume are perfect, and I do not think any group is. Their music can feel distant at times, and their precision can feel like a wall between them and the audience. Some listeners want a singer who sounds raw and unpolished, and Perfume will never give them that. I understand that feeling, and I think it is a fair criticism. But I also think that the distance is part of the point. Perfume are not trying to be your best friend. They are trying to show you something beautiful and precise, and they do that better than almost anyone else.

Looking at their later albums, I am glad that they have not become a nostalgia act. Future Pop and Plasma show a group that is still curious, still trying new sounds, and still willing to work with new technology. That curiosity is what keeps a long career alive. The moment a group stops being curious, it starts to repeat itself, and the audience can feel it. Perfume have not reached that point yet, and I hope they do not reach it for a long time.

I think their legacy will be about more than their songs. They changed what a Japanese girl group could be, they brought electronic music to a mainstream audience, and they showed that technology could be part of a live performance without taking away the human feeling. They also showed that three people who met as children could grow up together, stay together, and build something that lasts. That is a human story as much as a musical one, and it is the part of their story that I will remember longest.

If I had to sum up what Perfume have taught me, it would be this: slow work beats fast fame, trust beats talent alone, and precision is not the opposite of feeling. It is a way of showing feeling clearly, without waste and without noise. I did not expect a techno pop group to teach me that, but they have, and I am glad I spent time with their story.

I also think about the albums, and about how each one tells a different part of their story. Game was the breakthrough, Triangle was the joy, JPN was the maturity, Level3 was the experiment, Cosmic Explorer was the ambition, Future Pop was the return to fun, and Plasma was the proof that they are still here. I like that each album has its own feeling, and that the group did not try to make the same record again and again. That is a hard thing to do, because the audience often wants the same thing, and the industry often rewards repetition. Perfume chose variety, and they chose it within a sound that is still theirs, and that is a difficult balance to keep for twenty years.

I think about their place in Japanese daily life, too, and about what it means to hear a Perfume song in an advertisement, on television, in a shop, and to know it instantly. That kind of familiarity is a sign of success, but it is also a risk, because a song that is everywhere can become background music, and can lose its special feeling. I think Perfume have avoided that risk by keeping their live shows special, by keeping their dancing precise, and by keeping their new music fresh. The songs in the advertisements are the same songs, but the live show is a different experience, and it reminds the audience that Perfume are not only a sound on television. They are three people, on a stage, working hard, and that work is what makes the music matter.

I wonder what the next twenty years will look like for them, and I hope they will keep going, because pop music needs groups like Perfume, groups that care about precision, about technology, about dance, and about the future. There are many pop groups that are loud and flashy, and few that are calm and precise, and Perfume fill a space that no one else fills in quite the same way. I hope they keep filling it, and I hope they keep finding new ideas, new sounds, and new ways to use technology on stage, because that curiosity is what has kept them alive for so long.

I also think about the young girls in Hiroshima who might be watching Perfume now, and who might be thinking, that could be me. That is a powerful thought, because it means that Perfume are not only a pop group. They are an example, a proof that a girl from a smaller city can become a star, can travel the world, can perform at Coachella, and can do it without losing herself. I hope those girls see that, and I hope they are inspired by it, not only to become pop stars, but to work hard, to practise, to trust their friends, and to keep going, even when the work is hard and the reward is far away.

I think about the cost of their fame, too, and about the fact that they have spent most of their lives in the public eye, with little privacy, with little time for a normal life. That is a price that every long-running pop group pays, and Perfume have paid it quietly. I do not know if they regret it, and I do not want to guess, but I can see that they have made a choice, to put the work first, and to keep their private lives private, and that choice has protected them. It has also meant that the audience does not always know who they are as people, and that is a loss, but it is a loss they have chosen, and I respect it.

In the end, I come back to the image of three girls from Hiroshima, standing on a stage in Tokyo, in London, in California, moving in perfect time, singing in perfect harmony, and making a whole arena feel like one thing. That image is beautiful, and it is also true, because it is the result of years of work, of trust, of friendship, and of a belief that precision can be beautiful. I did not expect a techno pop group to teach me about patience, about trust, and about the beauty of doing one thing well, but they have, and I am grateful for that lesson.

I also think about what it means to be a fan of Perfume, to follow a group for twenty years, to watch them grow from teenagers in Hiroshima to stars at Coachella, and to feel that you have grown with them, that their music has been part of your life, through school, through work, through love, and through loss. That is a long relationship, and it is one that few pop groups can offer, because few last that long, and few stay together, with the same members, the same sound, and the same care, for so many years. Perfume offer that, and their fans know it, and they value it, because it is rare, because it is real, and because it is a sign that a pop group can be more than a moment. It can be a companion, through a life, and that is a beautiful thing, and one I hope Perfume will keep offering, for many more years, to old fans, and to new ones, who are only now discovering them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Perfume first meet and form as a group?

Perfume formed in Hiroshima in 2000, when the members met at Actors School Hiroshima, a local school for singing, dancing and acting. The original group included Yuka Kawashima, who left in 2001 and was replaced by Ayano Omoto, known as Nocchi. The three members who remain today, A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi, have been together since that change.

Who produces Perfume’s music and who creates their dances?

The music is produced by Yasutaka Nakata, who gave the group its electronic pop sound from the early 2000s onwards. The dances are created by the choreographer Mikiko, whose precise, geometric routines have become a central part of the group’s identity. The partnership between Nakata, Mikiko and the three members has lasted for most of the group’s career.

What song made Perfume famous in Japan?

The song Polyrhythm, released in 2007, was the group’s breakthrough, helped by its use in a widely seen television advertisement. The song became a hit across Japan and introduced Perfume to a national audience. Their album Game, released in 2008, then reached number one and confirmed their success.

Have Perfume performed outside Japan?

Yes, Perfume have toured in Asia, Europe and the United States, and they performed at the Coachella festival in California in 2019. They were widely praised for that performance, and it marked an important step in their international career. Their music and stage show have found audiences in many countries, even among people who do not speak Japanese.

What are Perfume’s best-known albums?

Their best-known albums include Game from 2008, Triangle, JPN, Level3, Cosmic Explorer, Future Pop and Plasma. Game was their first number-one album in Japan, and the later albums continued their electronic sound while trying new ideas. Each album reflects the group’s long partnership with the producer Yasutaka Nakata.

Are Perfume still together and performing today?

Yes, the same three members, A-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi, are still together and still performing. They have been a group for more than two decades, which is rare for a pop act, and they continue to release music and tour. Their later work shows that they are still curious about new sounds and new stage technology.