USA Musume is an American J-pop (Japanese pop) cover group specializing in performing and cosplaying from Japanese pop music artists like Morning Musume, and other soloists/groups that fall under the umbrella of the successful Japanese production group, Hello! Project. USA Musume takes pride in honoring the artists that they portray by recreating performances that keep in mind the spirit and integrity of each specific project they cover. Costumes and choreography are often true to the original, with the occasional creative license taken to make performances unique to USA Musume for special projects. USA Musume has appeared in over 20 performances of several different Hello! Project musical numbers, as guests of conventions and events throughout California, since the troupe was established in 2002. USA Musume enjoys sharing this expression of their support of Morning Musume & Hello! Project with fans across the nation and in Japan.

USA Musume performs at Japanese culture conventions, Anime conventions, and events. Appearances range from short one-song performances to longer concerts as well panels and photo-shoot opportunities. Past guest appearances include performances at: San Francisco Japan Town, Animagic, Fanime-Con, Anime Expo, Recca-Con, Anime Overdose, Japan Town Anime Faire, and the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival. See the discography for a more comprehensive list of our performances (interested parties may request our performance history resume upon booking inquiries). If you would like to book USA Musume for an event, or as a guest of your convention please contact us for more information or to discuss details and requirements.

Lead by Director Tiffany-Marie Austin and Producer Wayne, USA Musume is comprised of over 20 members, with casts that continually rotate according to the specific project. Members may also graduate from the group, exactly like its model, Hello! Project, while new members are welcomed to the “family”. Rotations per project allow the group to perform a wide variety of material in locations throughout California. Many of USA Musume’s members are also established cosplayers from various successful cosplay groups. The majority are also non-professional talent, who have day-jobs far beyond the realm of Japanese pop, but have committed themselves to the group and this passion for performance simply because of their love of cosplay, J-pop, and each other! For more information on the members of USA Musume visit the profiles page and click on each member for their corresponding bios.

All of USA Musume’s costumes are constructed by the individuals themselves and/or as team efforts. Individual Members are responsible for the finances and construction of their own costumes, and hence they are not available commercially. Since the members of USA Musume have experience in cosplay, they are generally familiar with aspects of costume design and construction. The costumes are tailor made to fit the individual member. Materials alone for these costumes can run in the low hundreds of dollars, depending on the costume.

Cosplay is a phenomenon originated in Japan that has spread throughout the country and is growing increasingly popular in America. Short for “costume play”, cosplay originated as making costumes and dressing up as Japanese Anime characters. It has hence expanded to include not only anime but video games, movies, manga, music (J-pop, J-rock, Visual Kei), original art or designs, and all of the above from countries other than Japan! Cosplay is very much a creative hobby and all levels of skill, from expert to novice, can participate. In Japan, cosplay is a commercial industry with merchandising stores such as COSPA selling costumes of the most popular anime and video game characters, which opens the past-time up to non-seamstresses as well as experienced ones. In America, much of the joy of cosplay revolves around the fabrication of the costumes in addition to the wearing of them. However, costume commissions are also available. A significant part of the cosplay experience is the masquerade. This an avenue in which the cosplayer's costumes and abilities can be showcased. Very similar to talent shows, participants may create a short performance during which they can showcase their costumes. Performances are judged and awards are given based on both the construction of the costumes, and the performances themselves.

USA Musume was officially formed in 2002. The inspiration and formation of USA Musume is largely attributed to Claudia “Ku-Chan” who came up with the brilliant concept and joined together with Tiffany-Marie to make it happen! Much love and thanks go out to Claudia, our wonderful friend, for planting the seed for our great passion! The name USA Musume, is a combination between the name of the most popular of the Hello! Project groups “Morning Musume” and of course “USA” because we are from and in the USA! A little known fact as to the history of our name – if sounded out “Usa Musume” translates roughly to “bunny sisters”, which Claudia and Tiffany both thought was really cute…hence the reason why USA Musume is USA Musume and not “Morning USA” or “Musume USA”. Go figure.

By visiting the Communications link to the left, you will find the many ways to contact USA Musume. Feel free to chat with us at the message board, as we keep the E-mail and contact information of our members private for security reasons. If you do choose to E-mail, it is preferred that you use the USA Musume group account listed at Communications for correspondence. Please respect the individual members' right to privacy. Thank you. We also encourage you to join our Newsletter for the latest updates and news!

USA Musume is a “link free website”. Please feel free to link to us! Personalized UM banners are available on our Links page. If you'd like USA Musume to link your Morning Musume or Hello! Project related site, please contact us!

USA Musume has a relationship with several of the best cosplay photographers in the U.S. The majority of UM’s photos are taken by these photographers during scheduled photo-shoots. The photographers involved in each project are listed at the bottom of each discography page as well as on the watermark of the image itself. For more information on the photographers associated with USA Musume visit our links page. If you yourself are a professional photographer and are interested in taking setting up a photoshoot with USA Musume, please contact our producer for further details.

A list of previous press and interviews with USA Musume can be found on the links page. If you are interested in interviewing USA Musume, please contact us with more information.

The names, Morning Musume, Hello! Project and all subgroup, artist and song titles are copyright to the Hello! Project or Tsunku Family