Since 1995, when agents joined them after their separate entries in a Tokyo talent contest, Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura, aka Puffy AmiYumi, have become a cultural phenomenon in Japan, conquering music and television there while making inroads among U.S. audiences who live to look eastward. After all, it isn’t just any group that gets to collaborate with Cyndi Lauper on her classic, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” as this pop/rock duo did on Lauper’s 2005 release, The Body Acoustic.

Of course, recently there was the Gap ad by Annie Leibowitz, the very definition of arrival in American pop culture. And to think that Sean Combs once sent the women a cease and desist letter asking them to change their name from "Puffy," the original moniker that they still use at home.

Now, hot on the heels of their sonic cornucopia, the Splurge album from 2006, Puffy AmiYumi are preparing to drop their new release, honeycreeper in the U.S. The duo will offer American fans a sneak listen soon during a five-date, West Coast "honeysweeper" tour that begins on November 11.

A cursory listen to “Oriental Diamond” and “Sayonara Saturday,” two tracks forthcoming on honeycreeper, suggests that Ami and Yumi could be headed in a punk and garage direction after a previous album that seemed to emphasize ska and surf rock. Then again, with contributions from the Offspring's Dexter Holland and Butch Walker, producer for Avril Lavigne and Pink, who knows what to expect?

The fun of Puffy AmiYumi is that predictions prove futile, much like the vast majority of Americans’ attempts to understand the Japanese lyrics in “Oriental Diamond.” Whatever they mean, the song sure sounds like a great way to hurtle toward the weekend.