Perfume (Japanese band)

Perfume
Perfume at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (2015). From left to right: Kashiyuka, A-chan and Nocchi.
Background information
Origin	Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Genres	J-pop techno bitpop electropop dance-pop
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Momiji Label (2002–2003) Bee-hive Records (2003–2005) Tokuma Japan (2005–2012) Perfume Records (2012–present) Universal Music Group (2012–present)
Associated acts	Yasutaka Nakata Team Amuse
Website	perfume-web.jp
Members	Ayano Ōmoto (2001–present) Yuka Kashino Ayaka Nishiwaki
Past members	Yuka Kawashima (2000–2001)

Perfume (パフューム, Pafyūmu^?) is a Japanese pop girl group from Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, consisting of Ayano Ōmoto ("Nocchi"), Yuka Kashino ("Kashiyuka") and Ayaka Nishiwaki ("A~chan"). The group has been signed with Amuse, Inc. since 2003 and with Universal Music Group since 2012.

The group was formed in early 2000 inside young talent academy Actors School Hiroshima, and debuted with their first Hiroshima-local single "Omajinai Perori" released on March 21, 2002. A year later they moved to Tokyo, started to work with Capsule's producer Yasutaka Nakata and released their first nationwide indie single, "Sweet Donuts" on August 6, 2003. In 2005 they got a major contract deal with Tokuma Japan Communications, and released their major debut single "Linear Motor Girl" on September 21. However, it was not until 2008 where the group's seventh single "Polyrhythm", which was chosen to be the theme song of a recycle campaign by NHK, that they started to receive major attention in Japan. The single peaked at number seven on the Oricon charts, becoming their first Top 10 single in Japan, and since then, all of their subsequent works starting with their eighth single "Baby Cruising Love" have debuted within the Top 3 of the charts. Their first original studio album, Game, released on April 16, 2008, became their first number one album in Japan, and "Love the World", released on July 9, 2008, their first number one single. With roughly combined sales of both singles and albums, the group has sold over 4 million records, with 1.5 million albums sold in Japan alone as of March 2012.