diff --git a/riak/client/__init__.py b/riak/client/__init__.py
index 7f5ce4fe..9425bdba 100644
--- a/riak/client/__init__.py
+++ b/riak/client/__init__.py
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@
 under the License.
 """
 
-import json
+try:
+    import simplejson as json
+except ImportError:
+    import json
+
 import random
 from weakref import WeakValueDictionary
 from riak.client.operations import RiakClientOperations
diff --git a/riak/tests/test_kv.py b/riak/tests/test_kv.py
index 65862410..6e4981f4 100644
--- a/riak/tests/test_kv.py
+++ b/riak/tests/test_kv.py
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 import os
 import cPickle
 import copy
-import json
+try:
+    import simplejson as json
+except ImportError:
+    import json
 
 
 class NotJsonSerializable(object):
diff --git a/riak/transports/http/transport.py b/riak/transports/http/transport.py
index 9d8269d8..f95b7760 100644
--- a/riak/transports/http/transport.py
+++ b/riak/transports/http/transport.py
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@
 under the License.
 """
 
-import json
+try:
+    import simplejson as json
+except ImportError:
+    import json
+
 import urllib
 import re
 import csv