On Saturday, hip hop trio Funky Monkey Babys were the first Japanese artists to perform an in-store live show in China. The group, known to fans as Fun-Mon, pulled in a crowd of 3,000 at the Aeon Jusco mall in the city of Qingdao (famous as the home of Tsingtao beer). “The crowd had like a big question mark hanging over them at the start,” said MC Funky Kato (30). The show began with an intro from DJ Chemical (26), who took the stage dressed in a table tennis outfit. Complete with a racket, he did a quick parody of popular young player Fukuhara Ai, who has based herself in China, and that seemed to have the right effect on the audience. The group then played a short set of four songs, including their latest release “Sakura.” In between numbers, Kato chatted with the audience showing off the bit of Chinese he learned recently. The show in China was an extension of their touring at home, playing in dozens of Aeon-run malls across Japan. In their third year, it may not sound like they’ve hit the big time. But they saw their third album enter the Oricon charts at No.1 earlier this month, and they have a couple of nights lined up at the Nippon Budokan in mid-June. MC Monkichi (30) said, “At regular live shows, the audience comes for the music. But at in-store events we’re playing to shoppers who aren’t expecting a show, and this has really helped up hone our act.”