 After receiving her degrees in Music and Asian studies from UNC-Chapel Hill, she recorded her first album of solo piano and vocal work, "This Moment is the Show" in 2001 at Coffeehouse Studios in Stockbrige, GA with engineer Brian Thompson.A trio was formed (composed of Furukawa on vocals and piano, John Metcalf on percussion, and Deborah Shields on cello) to perform and record "Pearl Diver" in 2005, Furukawa's second album of original songs inspired by Japanese history, folk myths, and ocean themes.In 2006, Furukawa composed and self-produced her third album, "Reaching the Dragon" which was musically inspired by her experience arranging electronic music for anime theme songs.