It’s becoming common to see Japanese artists go out into the world. Once a rarity, in the 2020s it isn’t too shocking to see a J-pop act embark on a biggie-sized world tour or pop up on the bill for major music festivals.
Still, there was something surreal about seeing pinponpanpon — a hyperpop-inspired and always unpredictable idol outfit made up of members Dome, Katherine, and Tokyo — appear on the lineup for Chicago’s Summer Smash this past June. Here, the frantic project graced a poster featuring the likes of Lil Uzi Vert, Skrillex, and Playboi Carti among others.
And by all accounts, they made total sense in the context of this, even while wearing Akihabara-ready outfits.
Formed in 2023, pinponpanpon emerged at a time when COVID-19 was finally dying down in Japan after a few years where a generation of younger creators in the country fell for internet-damaged music. Guided by the producer French Cries — the moniker embraced by spaceboy of Japanese hyperpop posse STARKIDS — the project debuted later that year with the pulsing “PinPonDash,” part alternative idol rave and part reflection of Gen Z angst in the post-pandemic world (with cries of “hurry up and quit my part-time job” in the chorus).
This set the sonic and thematic speed for pinponpanpon in the years ahead, even if the people involved changed. Save for original member Dome (also known as Domenatsu), the other two initial participants in pinponpanpon left. In 2024 the current lineup solidified with the addition of Katherine and Tokyo (nicknames, with full names unknown). Despite the changes, they kept creating high-energy songs incorporating elements of rap and hyperpop, often including nods to maid cafes and beach trips, though always hiding traces of reality within.
It’s very online, and that helped pinponpanpon connect with the world. Over the last two years, the trio have been touring at an incredible clip, spending extended periods of time in Europe and the United States to play all sorts of venues. This year that has ranged from Summer Smash to what appears to be the beer garden at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. They’re the road warriors of modern J-pop.
Recently, the group released its first fully formed album pinponism, serving as a summary of what pinpnpanpon is all about. They are idols happy to upend expectations of what that tag means in the first place, whether by embracing absurd ideas (“Kuru Kuru Kaiten Sushi”) or pure swagger (“PONCITY,” wherein they imply Hillary Clinton is flying them out to the States). Yet underneath all this bluster and maximalist sound is youthful sweetness, slipping out on more vulnerable moments like the electro-pop bounce of “it’s just love.”
Right before the trio went back to the United States to serve as the opening act for American act Ludy Bedroque for a tour, scrmbl caught up with the always-busy trio over email to talk about pinponism, what idols mean to them and much more.
scrmbl: First, for those who aren’t familiar with you guys or what “pinponism” is, how would you define it?
DOME: Itʼs the teaching for a new era.
KATHERINE: Freedom. I think everyone can decide what it means however they like!
TOKYO: Itʼs the truth! It’s such a waste that nobodyʼs realized it yet.
Let’s go back a bit further. How did each of you become interested in music?
DOME: In elementary school I became a fan of an idol group called Momoiro Clover Z, and I decided I was going to be an idol.
KATHERINE: When I was a student, I watched YouTube to unwind from studying. Watching music videos there is what got me interested in music. I had this vague thought that it would be nice to leave behind proof that Iʼd lived, the way they did.
TOKYO: I did cheerleading from kindergarten, so I loved listening to songs by all kinds of overseas artists. In junior high I seriously wanted to be Arashi, and in high school I wanted to be BTS.
How do you personally define what an “idol” is? Who are some of your favorites?
DOME: An idol is like the feeling of the New Year holidays. For some reason itʼs festive and fun, but even after Christmas and New Yearʼs, nothing in your life really changes. It's like that. Watching idols and having fun doesnʼt change anything about your life, but I think having fun is better than not having fun.
My favorite idol group is MIGMA SHELTER. Theyʼve broken up, but when I saw them live, the quality of the performance was really high. I loved that kind of fun that speaks straight to your instincts.
KATHERINE: To me, an idol is someone who shows you feelings youʼd never get to experience living on your own. Itʼs different from cheering on someone at school or at work. I like how unreal it feels. My favorite idol is Phantom Siita, because I can project all kinds of my own feelings onto them.
TOKYO: I think an idol is a time capsule. When you look back later, your friends from that time, your life, the things you were working hard at might all be tied to the time you loved that idol. Becoming part of someoneʼs life is amazing, right!
My favorite idol is pinponpanpon. Iʼm a total bandwagoner and Iʼve been a fan of all kinds of artists, but Iʼve never seen anything like them!
How did pinponpanpon form? Why make a group like this?
DOME: After I met French Cries, I had way too much free time. He said he wanted to make an idol group, and I'd never made an idol before, so I wanted to give it a try. I also thought that if we worked hard together, we could beat everything in this world.
KATHERINE: Stars fell from the sky. Three of them. Apparently they all landed together in front of the producerʼs house. Iʼve heard that the sound they made cutting through the air on the way down became the first song.
TOKYO: Actually, it all started when the three of us bumped into each other on the street and then got hit by a bus. Next thing we knew, we were standing on stage as pinponpanpon. It was just a random accident!
How did you want pinponpanpon to stand out from other idols in Japan?
DOME: We thought we were doing things the same way as other Japanese idol groups, but since it's just us, differences showed up in things like our budget and our creativity without us meaning them to.
KATHERINE: I donʼt really understand what the producer is thinking. Personally, ever since I was little, Iʼve been scared of becoming the same as things that already exist. Iʼm scared of copying other people when I put outfits together, and Iʼm bad at it. Recently I learned that everything starts with imitation, so Iʼve started using other peopleʼs work as reference.
TOKYO: We just did what we were told, and this is how it turned out! But I donʼt think the producer or the members are trying to be different from other groups. We're just doing what we like.
What were your first impressions of one another?
DOME: I met Katherine at the audition, and my first impression was “she seems smart.ˮ Neither French Cries nor I have much of an education, so we tried raising pinponʼs gradepoint average. I met Tokyo on Instagram and thought, “sheʼs pink.ˮ She was wearing the biggest Chrome Hearts Iʼd ever seen, which caught my attention, so I DMʼd her.
KATHERINE: I first met Dome at the audition. I thought she was a bright person who talks a lot. I first met Tokyo when she came to one of our shows. Her clothes were cool and I thought she was a little scary. After meeting a few more times, my impressions of her completely flipped.
TOKYO: The first time I met them, I was watching their show. Domeʼs clothes were colorful and she was just as bright as I'd imagined. I thought her idol-style singing was cool! Katherine was wearing a suit, so I thought she was an office worker. I thought it was impressive that she was doing this after work.
You’ve just put out pinponism. What did you do differently preparing this release compared to what you’ve done in the past?
DOME: Before, we would just release songs one after another in whatever order they got finished, but this was the first time a release took a year and a half to come together. We were busy going to Europe and America, so please forgive us. We also sold a booklet commemorating the album and our first-ever physical CD, so I think it became a big event for pinpon fans too.
KATHERINE: Thereʼs a lot of English in the lyrics, because the producer wrote a lot of it. I also really struggled with pronouncing the English parts. Iʼm slowly getting better at English, but I canʼt understand the slangy English my friends use at all, and I canʼt pronounce it well.
TOKYO: Everything was decided starting from the story of the album as a whole. The themes, the track order, all of it is supposed to connect into one story, but itʼs been about a year and a half since we decided it, so nobody remembers it.
How do pinponpanpon songs generally come together?
DOME: Usually thereʼs a feeling that comes first, like wanting to be a mushroom, or a puffer jacket I want, or an outfit I want to wear, and then we often get a song made to make that happen.
KATHERINE: It depends on the song, but usually pinpon and the producer write lyrics to a melody the producer made. If the song has a theme, that becomes the inspiration. If the direction isnʼt set, it feels like we gradually fit in things someone said on a whim.
TOKYO: I think a lot of them come out of everyday chatting. Conversations like “wouldnʼt it be funny if we did this?ˮ or “wouldnʼt that be cute?ˮ turn into songs before we know it, so itʼs fun! We all figure out the Japanese parts of the lyrics together in a big chaotic mess, but French Cries handles the English parts, so the key becomes that you can feel the lyricism.
You’ve played internationally a lot in 2026. What are some of your favorite memories from abroad?
DOME: Going to Hawaii with the pinpons. We had just played SUMMER SMASH in Chicago, and my eyes were so shocked that something like this could happen in my life that I healed everything by looking at the ocean. There was also a shark lying on the beach.
KATHERINE: Spending New Yearʼs Eve in Taipei. It was the first time in my life I rang in the new year abroad! Right after the countdown, we went to an outdoor event. Apparently it wasnʼt for profit; it was just a huge crowd of people having a good time. I thought that was lovely. There was even someone there who said they were a schoolteacher.
TOKYO: The shows, of course, but my favorite memories are the times we felt our lives were in danger while shooting MVs in different places. In San Francisco we nearly capsized in a boat on rough waves. In New York we ran into some dangerous-looking people, and in Hawaii I jumped off a cliff into the ocean and got swept out to sea. It was scary! Iʼm glad they turned into memories…
What’s the draw of playing internationally to you? Why do you do it so much?
DOME: Weʼll play in Japan too if someone emails us. When we play overseas, people are kind, we get paid properly, thereʼs respect for artists, and a lot of things surprise us.
KATHERINE: Because organizers overseas invite pinponpanpon out. People in Japan donʼt seem to invite us too much. Overseas, everyone gets into it however they want, so itʼs really fun!
TOKYO: For some reason we really seem to click with people overseas. Compared to shy Japanese crowds, you can really feel the energy, so it's fun! I'm happy they get hyped even for unreleased songs, so we perform almost nothing but unreleased songs.
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned from performing overseas?
DOME: I thought, “whoa, pinpon might be number one in the world.” Seeing the crowd having so much fun, I thought we might be able to rule the world. I learned pinpon pride.
KATHERINE: Unlike people in Japan, people overseas all dance! So I felt we had to get hyped ourselves and pull the whole crowd along with us. Japanese idols usually do polished dancing and make sure the audience can see their faces clearly. I want to move more wildly, get everyone in the audience dancing, and give them the best experience of their lives.
TOKYO: That we can be freer. I learned that even if we donʼt get trapped by whatʼs considered normal in Japan, there are this many people in the world who enjoy pinpon!
Where do you see pinponpanpon going in the future?
DOME: Hawaii. Hawaii is the best place in the world, so I want to go back as soon as Possible.
KATHERINE: Space, I think. The producer keeps making the things he wants to do happen, one after another, through pinponpanpon. I think weʼll eventually go all the way to space. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little, so I'd be happy if we went.
TOKYO: I think weʼll conquer the world! Iʼve been wondering whether the Earth would break if everyone in the world jumped at the same time, so once we've conquered it, I'll give it a try.
