Last November 27, Japanese pop icon, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu spread kawaii-ness and love in Shibuya, Tokyo at the annual Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival. Wearing a red costume, Kyary conquered the stage and proved that she is indeed the queen of Harajuku.
Now considered as Japan’s Pop Princess, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu continues to create a mark in the world of cute fashion and pop music.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is also the Harajuku Kawaii Ambassador.
The Kawaii Fashion Icon
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is not your typical Pop Princess. Born on January 29, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan, Kyary, also known as Kiriko Takemura in real life, is a well-known model and singer who slays the Harajuku fashion scene in Japan. Starting as a fashion blogger, she started modelling for a few fashion magazines and was later on discovered by a music producer.
Since she loves wearing wigs during her high school days, one of her friends started calling her Kyary. She later on chose this as her stage name and added “Pamyu Pamyu” to sound cuter.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s Pon Pon Pon
The Beginning of Pon Pon Pon
Her singing career began in the year 2011, when she met the music producer, Yasutaka Natata, who was also the one handling the popular girl idol group, Perfume.. By August, 2011, her first album, entitled Moshi Moshi Harajuku, was released under Warner Music Japan. It included one of her most popular singles, Pon Pon Pon, which automatically became a viral hit. Her second single in the album, entitled Jelly was also internationally released on iTunes.
In 2012, Kyary was assigned as the Harajuku Kawaii Ambassador of the Shibuya fashion district. In the same year, Kyary collaborated with G.U., a Japanese fashion brand for her single Fashion Monster. Kyary also released her second album, Pamyu Pamyu Revolution, in the last quarter of 2012.
Kyary at the KPP Monster Tour 2016 in Singapore.
KPP World Tour!
After the successful release of her albums, Kyary announced the start of her KPP World Tour in 2013. She visited countries like United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and also Japan. The world tour began in February 2013 until June. The Pop Princess caught the attention of the Western Countries and her album “Pamyu Pamyu Revolution” even became the number 1 “Best Pops of 2012”. She was also featured in some magazines in Britain and other Western countries.
KPP Best album cover.
Five years of kawaii overload
This year, Kyary just celebrated her 5th anniversary in the music industry with the release of the album, KPP Best.
She also did a collaboration with Seibu Railway for Seibu KPP Train, which ran from June to September of this year.
From the usual yellow color of the the Seibu Railway, one of the train cars was transformed into an eye-catching pink. The design and interior of the train was inspired by Kyary’s hit songs. The train also played the hits of Kyary, including Pon Pon Pon, to entertain the 328 passengers of the train.
On the opening ceremony, Kyary showed up wearing a conductor’s uniform and served as the tour guide of the whole trip. She also checked the tickets of the passengers at the Hoya station.
Conductor Kyary aboard the Seibu KPP Train.
Truly, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has helped intensify the image of the so-called cute in Japanese. And she is now spreading kawaii-ness and Pon Pon Pon in Japan, but also around the world.
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