If you've ever seen pop duo Puffy perform live, you know that a key part of their shows is their low-key, slightly ironic between-songs banter. So naturally Yumi Yoshimura is worried that her inability to speak English will make it hard to enjoy that kind of communication with audiences during Puffy's upcoming North American tour.

"I think we're in trouble," she says in an interview at Sony Music's central Tokyo offices. "I think it's probably going to be impossible to do it all in English. But I'm sure words such as 'konnichiwa' and 'arigato' are going to get across even in Japanese, so it'll probably be something of a mix, and we're going to have to work on it."

Ami Onuki, the other half of Puffy, adds that the two of them realize that being big in Japan doesn't necessarily mean anything overseas.