Sunday, April 26, 2015

Women's face shaving in Japan

I was very surprised the first time I saw women's facial razors at the conbini.. Anyone tried it?

The Secret to Flawless Japanese Skin Care

By Yumi Nakata 

(Source: http://blog.gaijinpot.com/secret-to-flawless-japanese-skin/ )

Japanese women are known for their beautiful skin. We don’t just have good genes (although it is one of the contributing factors), but we often use different types of toners and lotions that contain ingredients that improve the skin texture and the complexion. Aging cannot be avoided entirely, but a healthy Japanese diet and lifestyle combined with skin products seem to keep our skin looking healthy and young.
…but there is one more secret to our flawless skin!
This may surprise you, but many women in Japan shave their face.
Not all Japanese women shave their face, but it is definitely a more common practice skin care regime in Japan than in western societies. I started to do it when my Japanese roommate in college introduced me to this unique practice. She had the most beautiful skin and she told me that shaving it got rid of her facial fuzz while enhancing skin’s exfoliation process and also toners and lotions seemed to work better when applied to the shaved skin. Of course, shaving also made cosmetic products such as foundations to blend in and create a smooth surface of our skin.
Whether shaving really helps us maintain our flawless skin or not, it certainly seems to keep our skin clean and once you start shaving your skin, it is hard to stop. What surprises many foreigners is that many Japanese hair salons offer face shaving services for women!
When I was traveling with my American girlfriend, she was actually surprised to find out I shaved my arms. She said she shaved her legs but didn’t realize that Japanese women shaved the arms. We have dark hair so it wasn’t even a question for us, but I didn’t tell her about face shaving as I did not want to creep her out.
Another interesting fact about this is that although Japanese women shave their face, arms, and legs, waxing bikini line isn’t as common. Many women prefer to go au natural down there, but this is slowly changing as more Japanese women watch American TV shows like Sex in the City.
Steps to shaving your face properly
– make sure to thoroughly clean your face, and remove all makeup.
– apply shaving cream and use a new razor (I use a five blade women’s razor). Don’t press a razor too hard on your face. Apply it lightly and shave it so you feel as if you are gently putting foundation on with a sponge.
– once it’s done, wash your face with cleansing soap and rinse your razor thoroughly and keep it in a dry place.
– use cotton pads to apply toner on your face and finish it with lotions. If you have acne prone skin, you should use oil free products and also make sure not to shave when your skin when it is breaking out as shaving, can cause irritation to sensitive skins.
I highly recommend that you try this new skin care routine. Trying it once isn’t going to hurt your skin and you could be pleasantly surprised with your new soft skin. But be sure to follow the proper protocols stated above! Please let me know your thoughts on this and I will be answering any questions you may have.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Orientalism

Reading again and again -on various sites and blogs- accounts of Europeans in Japan and their absolute "expert" opinions on what the East is.. All it comes to my mind is how contemporary Said still is with his "Orientalism"..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_%28book%29

http://www.odsg.org/Said_Edward(1977)_Orientalism.pdf

(Picture taken from Wikipedia)

Sunday, January 11, 2015

My pumpkin soup recipe - Xmas special

Well, I usually don't blog about recipes but that's the one I get asked about and I thought it's a nice thing to do during Christmas/ winter.

It's quite an easy recipe but just requires some time and.. mess.




















What we need:

- a pumpkin, small to medium sized
- some leek (one or half)
- a teaspoonful of minced ginger
- Cream (I use reduced fat or soy cream)
- Orange peel and the juice of the orange (optional)
Spices: pepper,  turmeric (kurkuma), pine nuts

And of course, inspired by my years in Japan, I sprinkle a little Japanese toogarashi in the end 

Tōgarashi: 唐辛子 (see wiki article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichimi). Avoid if you don't like spicy. As for me, it's my little treasure and I eat it on almost everything.

The Japanese Tougarashi



When cooking, I never use or count specific amounts of anything, so just use the ingredients in amount according to your taste and sense. More ginger or the Japanese toogarashi will make it spicier, the orange will make it sweeter and so on. 

(I also never use salt but you can add it, of course.  With all the spices, it's quite as tasty without salt though).

Preparation: 
1) Peel the pumpkin's skin using a potato peeler and cut it in as many pieces as you can (not easy as it's very hard, uncooked). This is the messiest part

2) Put the pumpkin pieces and the leek into boiling water, until the pieces are soft and easily cut.
In the meantime, chop the ginger using a Moulinette type multi-cutter or stabmixer.  It should come out pasty, without ginger "hairs " that get stuck in teeth, so it needs a powerful cutting tool ( in lack of, you can use dried ginger powder but the taste won't come out as sharp).

3) When the pumpkin- leek are boiled, put all the pieces into the Moulinette cutter or just use the stabmixer until they become velvety. This part is easy because the pumpkin will be very soft.

4) Put the final puree into a pot, add the orange juice/peel if you want, the spices, some water until it gets the velvety texture you want, stir and simmer in low fire for 5 minutes.

5) Serve with some cream, pine nuts and spices on top!   ( I don't actually have pine nuts this time though)


 The final result