Through the years, Japanese musicians have achieved North American success in waves. From Kyu Sakamoto’s No. 1 single in 1963 (“Sukiyaki”) and Yellow Magic Orchestra’s cult technopop in the late 1970s to Shonen Knife’s ’90s-era punky power trio sounds and Puffy AmiYumi’s melodic 21st-century indie rock, Japanese music in various genres has successfully crossed over decade by decade.

Less than halfway through the year, 2016 has already proved to be a breakthrough year for Japanese popular music. Beginning in late April, the Hatsune Miku Expo North America Tour presented 14 shows in 10 cities. Several 3-D virtual pop stars, including the titular Hatsune Miku, performed.

Meanwhile, many previously uninitiated Babymetal fans got their first exposure to the J-pop-meets-speed-metal trio through the group’s appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in early April. The band’s sophomore release, “Metal Resistance,” became the first Japanese-language album to reach the top 40 of the Billboard albums chart in more than 50 years. Babymetal commences a five-city US tour on July 12 in Seattle.

And the group Perfume, a three-piece pure J-pop vocal group, is reviving Japan’s synthpop tradition. The trio is doing five shows at four stops in the United States starting with one in Los Angeles on Aug. 26.

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“Japanese pop culture, if you look at the size of anime conventions around the country, has become pretty mainstream – not just in major cities,” Keith Cahoon, former director of iTunes Japan, says. “And anime has helped bring Japanese pop music to the US.”

All three acts – Hatsune Miku, Babymetal, and Perfume – present fresh approaches to mostly familiar musical forms, Mr. Cahoon points out. “You see Perfume, it’s not like anything else you would find in America,” he says.