Lisa Ono has grown accustomed to the double-takes. People hear the voice. Then they see the face. And then they feel the need to make sure they're not mistaken.
But that the Japan-based singer performs bossa nova like it's her destiny to do so should come as no surprise. Ono was born to Japanese parents in the sprawling metropolis of Sao Paulo, surrounded by the sounds of Brazil.
'My father used to run a club with live music so I've listened to a lot of music since I was still in my mother's belly,' the 46-year-old says ahead of her appearance at the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
'Music was something very natural and it was always around me, so I don't have a particular memory of what I first heard. But it was always there.'
Ono's family moved to Japan in 1972, when she was 10, with her father opening one of Tokyo's first Brazilian-themed clubs - the revered Saci-Perere - and bringing acts in from his former homeland to play for, and mingle with, Japanese musicians. The impact was instant, with the new sounds filtering in to the local jazz scene.
But for Ono, those early days were more about getting used to a city that was both strange and familiar. 'When I first came to Japan, and arrived at Narita airport, all I saw was people of the same race as my own, and that was a strange experience for me,' she says.