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Here’s a little-known fact about myself.  I was sort of a big fan of Ska music when I was in high school, all the way through my college years.  I lost touch with the music genre somewhere towards the end of college up until about 4 years ago.  In my younger years, I was a HUGE fan of the band Save Ferris.  I even snuck out once, during my senior year of high school, to watch Save Ferris perform at the music hall in The City. At the time, they performed with Goldfinger & pre-fame Incubus.  I don’t really know why, but I’ve never really shared this bit of information publicly before.  I guess it just never came up in conversation.

Back in those days, I liked to listen to a variety of music, but I was really influenced by a close school friend who introduced me to this music.  Some of the bands I liked listening to were: Reel Big Fish, The AquabatsDance Hall Crashers, Buck-O-Nine, Goldfinger, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, & the pre-Reggae/Pop version of No Doubt (just to name a few).  It took me a while to jump back into this genre of music, but I really fell in love with this type of music once I discovered Japanese Ska music.  A few years ago, by chance, I discovered a really cool Ska band from Japan called オレスカバンド(a.k.a. Ore Ska Band).  They are an all-girl group from Sakai, Japan, & their signature instrument is the bright pink trombone that band member ハヤミ (Hayami) plays.  That got me interested in learning about the Ska music scene in Japan, which led me to another awesome band called Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra consisting of veteran band members who have been around for many, many years.

After jumping back into this music scene, I am really excited to share some music & videos!  This Thursday has been a really “blah” kind of day, so I thought I’d cheer it up with some rockin’ music!!  Here are a few examples of the bands I’ve been listening to lately:

TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA – 流れゆく世界の中で feat.MONGOL.800 (a.k.a. Nagare Yuku Sekai no Naka de feat. MONGOL.800)

TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA – 閃光 feat. 10-FEET (a.k.a. Senko feat. 10-FEET)

ORE SKA BAND – 爪先 (a.k.a. Tsumasaki)

Now, here are some other similar bands that I’ve also been following lately…

CRAZY KEN BAND & 野宮真貴 (Nomiya Maki) & M-FLO – COSMIC NIGHT RUN

BLACK BOTTOM BRASS BAND (BBBB) & BOY-KEN & M-FLO – 宇宙のウオウオ(a.k.a. Uchuu no Uo Uo)

I have tried many beauty products before, & I’ve got to admit that I really like all of the products I’ve gotten in Japan.  There is one particular product that I’ve purchased recently that I have absolutely fell in love with.  The product is called Aroma Moist Cream, manufactured by Kowa Company, Ltd.  It is a rich hand & foot moisturizing cream that comes in five different scents (Grace Rose, Relaxing Lavender, White Floral Bouquet, Juicy Citron, & Herb & Fruits Tea).

I came across this cream one day while I was riding the JR metro train with my husband. I happened to spot this advertisement posted next to the train doors & took a picture of the ad with my cellphone camera thinking that I could show the photo to my Japanese friend. Perhaps she could help me find out where I could buy this cream.  Then, one evening, one of my female friends had asked to stop by one of the drug stores near our hotel, & that’s when I stumbled upon this cream.  It must have been fate, or a coincidence, or something like that.  I was so excited that I found this cream, I was tempted to get one tube in every scent.  However, my husband being the skeptic (& logical/sensible one), told me to just get one or two tubes since I didn’t know if I would like it or not.  I ended up getting two tubes (Grace Rose & Herb & Fruits Tea).

I just fell in love with this cream almost immediately.  The cream itself starts off really smooth & soft, but as you work the product into your skin, it becomes thick & rich in texture.  It really moisturizes the hands well, & it leaves a gentle scent (not an overpowering perfume smell).  No matter what the season, my hands are always feeling dry & my cuticles are always cracked &/or peeling.  After using this Aroma Moist Cream for about a month, my hands are feeling less dry & my cuticles are slowly coming back to life.  I don’t usually like floral scented anything, but I’ve been using the Grace Rose scented cream, & I am enjoying the soft fragrance.  It has a very delicate flower smell without smelling like a chemical perfume (eg. Febreez or those Glade plug-ins).  The Herb & Fruits Tea scent has notes of eucalyptus, cassis, rosemary, roses & pear. I haven’t yet tried the Juicy Citron scent…so I’m excited to try it soon.

Aroma Moist_Fotor_Collage
By the time I had returned from my trip to Tokyo this past November, I was mentally kicking myself for not getting more.  For weeks I had scoured the internet to see if I could buy this cream online (like at: Rakuten or Amazon) or find out any information about this product.  I had practically hit a dead end, until miraculously I was able to find this cream on the Amazon Japan website.  The price was also the same as what I paid in Japan which was ¥590 JPY (roughly $5.83 USD).  I didn’t waste any time buying more of this cream.  I quickly bought 6 tubes, but I didn’t quite buy all of the scents.  The scents I purchased this time were: (more) Grace RoseJuicy Citron, & (more) Herb & Fruits Tea.  I think I may have gone a little overboard with the hand creams, but since this cream is hard to get/find, I had to grab as much as I could to fill up my addiction to this cream!  Buying these creams through Amazon Japan was a bit of a hassle, since there are, sadly, a lot of products that cannot be shipped to the United States through their website.  However, I found a small loophole in which I used a forwarding service to be able to ship these to my American address.  Unfortunately, you do need to pay a shipping & handling fee to the forwarding service, which can get expensive, but for small items such as these creams the small fee was well worth it…& these sweet babies arrived on my doorstep just in time!  I am so happy I was able to find these creams again, & I can’t wait to use the other scents!!

On a side note, here’s a little trick I learned from my mom on how to “squeeze” the most out of a tube of hand cream (or a tube of just about anything).  Once I’ve squeezed a majority of the product through the cap of the tube, instead of squeezing the tube until it is flat, I will cut off approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the end of the tube.  Then, I can reach in & scrape off the remaining product from the walls of the tube.  To cover the open end of the tube, I will use the cut-off end of the tube as a cap.  Voila!  It’s an easy way to get the most out of your tubed products.
Grace Rose_Fotor_Collage

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Photos courtesy of: http://www.walllbase.cc

The time has finally arrived!  Tomorrow, I am jetting off to Taipei, Taiwan.  I am incredibly thrilled to attend my friends’ wedding. (We are close friends with both the bride & groom.)  Also, being able to visit a place I’ve heard so much about since my early childhood is exciting.  I am so ready for this trip… I can’t wait to post photos soon!!  Cheers.

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