The Japanese music biz produces boy-girl pop duos with clockwork regularity -- think Love Psychedelico or EE Jump. The most recent example is Orange Pekoe (that's pronounced "peh-koe," by the way), which comprises Kobe natives Kazuma Fujimoto and Tomoko Nagashima.
The two first met at university and formed a band in 1998 with other musically minded students, but soon decided to make a go of it as a duo. Orange Pekoe's stylistic template is based on a light, almost effervescent pop-jazz fusion that's sophisticated without being pretentious.
Orange Pekoe's first release was an eponymous mini-album that came out on an indie label in April 2001, and it wasn't long before the duo's obvious talent landed them a deal with major label BMG Funhouse, which was in urgent need of signing some hit-making domestic acts.