Sense of Place: This Tokyo act embodies the energy of Japan’s busy capital

Stepping out into the streets of Tokyo can mean total sensory overload: billboards, lights, signs taking up every square inch of space on every building, the crowds, the fashion and the sounds. CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE is a band that seemingly manages to pack all of that energy into their music and performance.

Fronted by singer Chi-, who has bright orange hair and wears a pair of sunglasses that flash with constantly changing LED designs, the trio is rounded out with two other musicians dressed as giant, monstrous bunny rabbits named Whoopies No.1 and Whoopies No.2.

Together, they make catchy, hyperactive J-pop that has caught the attention of audiences all the way across the ocean at SXSW in Austin, Texas, where they played both this year and last year.

Today, for our Sense of Place: Japan series, we talk to Chi-, through interpreter Hideko Morita, about the band. Plus, CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE performs in front of a live World Cafe audience at WALL&WALL in Tokyo.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.