diff --git a/lib/Transformers.pm b/lib/Transformers.pm
index 254c8eab..80f57748 100644
--- a/lib/Transformers.pm
+++ b/lib/Transformers.pm
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ use constant PTDEBUG => $ENV{PTDEBUG} || 0;
 
 use Time::Local qw(timegm timelocal);
 use Digest::MD5 qw(md5_hex);
+use B qw();
 
 require Exporter;
 our @ISA         = qw(Exporter);
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ our @EXPORT_OK   = qw(
    any_unix_timestamp
    make_checksum
    crc32
+   encode_json
 );
 
 our $mysql_ts  = qr/(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d) +(\d+):(\d+):(\d+)(\.\d+)?/;
@@ -285,6 +287,98 @@ sub crc32 {
    return $crc ^ 0xFFFFFFFF;
 }
 
+my $got_json = eval { require JSON };
+sub encode_json {
+   return JSON::encode_json(@_) if $got_json;
+   my ( $data ) = @_;
+   return (object_to_json($data) || '');
+}
+
+# The following is a stripped down version of JSON::PP by Makamaka Hannyaharamitu
+# https://metacpan.org/module/JSON::PP
+
+sub object_to_json {
+   my ($obj) = @_;
+   my $type  = ref($obj);
+
+   if($type eq 'HASH'){
+      return hash_to_json($obj);
+   }
+   elsif($type eq 'ARRAY'){
+      return array_to_json($obj);
+   }
+   else {
+      return value_to_json($obj);
+   }
+}
+
+sub hash_to_json {
+   my ($obj) = @_;
+   my @res;
+   for my $k ( sort { $a cmp $b } keys %$obj ) {
+      push @res, string_to_json( $k )
+         .  ":"
+         . ( object_to_json( $obj->{$k} ) || value_to_json( $obj->{$k} ) );
+   }
+   return '{' . ( @res ? join( ",", @res ) : '' )  . '}';
+}
+
+sub array_to_json {
+   my ($obj) = @_;
+   my @res;
+
+   for my $v (@$obj) {
+      push @res, object_to_json($v) || value_to_json($v);
+   }
+
+   return '[' . ( @res ? join( ",", @res ) : '' ) . ']';
+}
+
+sub value_to_json {
+   my ($value) = @_;
+
+   return 'null' if(!defined $value);
+
+   my $b_obj = B::svref_2object(\$value);  # for round trip problem
+   my $flags = $b_obj->FLAGS;
+   return $value # as is 
+      if $flags & ( B::SVp_IOK | B::SVp_NOK ) and !( $flags & B::SVp_POK ); # SvTYPE is IV or NV?
+
+   my $type = ref($value);
+
+   if( !$type ) {
+      return string_to_json($value);
+   }
+   else {
+      return 'null';
+   }
+
+}
+
+my %esc = (
+   "\n" => '\n',
+   "\r" => '\r',
+   "\t" => '\t',
+   "\f" => '\f',
+   "\b" => '\b',
+   "\"" => '\"',
+   "\\" => '\\\\',
+   "\'" => '\\\'',
+);
+
+sub string_to_json {
+   my ($arg) = @_;
+
+   $arg =~ s/([\x22\x5c\n\r\t\f\b])/$esc{$1}/g;
+   $arg =~ s/\//\\\//g;
+   $arg =~ s/([\x00-\x08\x0b\x0e-\x1f])/'\\u00' . unpack('H2', $1)/eg;
+
+   utf8::upgrade($arg);
+   utf8::encode($arg);
+
+   return '"' . $arg . '"';
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
diff --git a/t/lib/Transformers.t b/t/lib/Transformers.t
index 30a1f81b..ae257ca6 100644
--- a/t/lib/Transformers.t
+++ b/t/lib/Transformers.t
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 
+# This file is encoded in UTF-8.
+
 BEGIN {
    die "The PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH environment variable is not set.\n"
       unless $ENV{PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH} && -d $ENV{PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH};
@@ -12,14 +14,14 @@ BEGIN {
 use strict;
 use warnings FATAL => 'all';
 use English qw(-no_match_vars);
-use Test::More tests => 49;
+use Test::More tests => 74;
 
 use Transformers;
 use PerconaTest;
 
 Transformers->import( qw(parse_timestamp micro_t shorten secs_to_time
    time_to_secs percentage_of unix_timestamp make_checksum any_unix_timestamp
-   ts crc32) );
+   ts crc32 encode_json) );
 
 # #############################################################################
 # micro_t() tests.
@@ -195,6 +197,107 @@ is(
    'any_unix_timestamp MySQL expression that looks like another type'
 );
 
+{
+   # Tests borrowed from http://api.metacpan.org/source/MAKAMAKA/JSON-2.53/t/08_pc_base.t
+   my $obj  = {};
+   my $js  = encode_json($obj);
+   is($js,'{}', '{}');
+   
+   $obj = [];
+   $js  = encode_json($obj);
+   is($js,'[]', '[]');
+   
+   $obj = {"foo" => "bar"};
+   $js  = encode_json($obj);
+   is($js,'{"foo":"bar"}', '{"foo":"bar"}');
+   
+   $js  = encode_json({"foo" => ""});
+   is($js,'{"foo":""}', '{"foo":""}');
+   
+   $js  = encode_json({"foo" => " "});
+   is($js,'{"foo":" "}' ,'{"foo":" "}');
+   
+   $js  = encode_json({"foo" => "0"});
+   is($js,'{"foo":"0"}',q|{"foo":"0"} - autoencode (default)|);
+   
+   $js  = encode_json({"foo" => "0 0"});
+   is($js,'{"foo":"0 0"}','{"foo":"0 0"}');
+   
+   $js  = encode_json([1,2,3]);
+   is($js,'[1,2,3]');
+   
+   $js  = encode_json({"foo"=>{"bar"=>"hoge"}});
+   is($js,q|{"foo":{"bar":"hoge"}}|);
+   
+   $obj = [{"foo"=>[1,2,3]},-0.12,{"a"=>"b"}];
+   $js  = encode_json($obj);
+   is($js,q|[{"foo":[1,2,3]},-0.12,{"a":"b"}]|);
+      
+   $obj = ["\x01"];
+   is(encode_json($obj),'["\\u0001"]');
+   
+   $obj = ["\e"];
+   is(encode_json($obj),'["\\u001b"]');
+
+   {
+      # http://api.metacpan.org/source/MAKAMAKA/JSON-2.53/t/07_pc_esc.t
+      use utf8;
+   
+      $obj = {test => qq|abc"def|};
+      my $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\"def"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {qq|te"st| => qq|abc"def|};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"te\"st":"abc\"def"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => q|abc\def|};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\\\\def"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc\bdef"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\bdef"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc\fdef"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\fdef"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc\ndef"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\ndef"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc\rdef"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\rdef"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc-def"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc-def"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc(def"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc(def"}|);
+      
+      $obj = {test => "abc\\def"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      is($str,q|{"test":"abc\\\\def"}|);
+      
+      
+      $obj = {test => "あいうえお"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      my $expect = q|{"test":"あいうえお"}|;
+      utf8::encode($expect);
+      is($str,$expect);
+      
+      $obj = {"あいうえお" => "かきくけこ"};
+      $str = encode_json($obj);
+      $expect = q|{"あいうえお":"かきくけこ"}|;
+      utf8::encode($expect);
+      is($str,$expect);
+   }
+}
+
 
 # #############################################################################
 # Done.