Stress, sweets, history and nostalgia

  OHGAWDTHISWEEKHASBEENHELLANDIHAVEN'TBEENABLETOPOSTADECENTPOSTINSUCHALONGTIMEANDIMISSBEINGABLETOTALKTOMYREADERSANDONLINEFRIENDSANDIFEELLIKEIMGOINGTOEXPLODE.

Hey guys! I'm back! whoooo~! That's not to say that my life has become considerably less busy. Actually, it hasn't. Not one bit. TT_TT I think on average, my normal day consists of me getting up at 6:30 am, getting ready for school at 8:30 and then coming back home 5:00 to 7:00 PM most days, taking a quick powernap and then sitting through homework, studies and lab reports until 2 or 3 in the morning. So you can probably tell that I've been pretty stressed these past few weeks and thus my lack of posts.

So now that I've actually been able to set aside some time for a new post it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Oh sweet baby Jesus that feels good. I can post again!

Only problem is I don't actually have anything substantial to blog about. Ah, the reality hits - I haven't  been able to plan a post at all. *sadface*

Really all I have to talk about right now is my latest Daiso find. Hahaha I know, I'm a sucker for Japanese thrift store goods. Sue me.

This find however was a lot more meaningful to me because although this wasn't beauty or cosmetic-related, it still had me jumping like a giddy little toddler.

BEHOLD! I HAVE FOUND MY CHILDHOOD!

SAKUMA SHIKI DROPS!!!

It may seem like I'm overacting but words cannot express how much this candy means to me. Some of you might actually already be familiar with it for the same reason I am so sentimentally attached to this candy.

Actually, it's from the 1988 Japanese animated film Grave of the Fireflies by Studio Ghibli (the people responsible for My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle).

The movie tells a tale of war-torn Japan through the eyes of two orphaned children, previously the offspring of a celebrated general, thrown into the reality of war - starvation, homelessness, discrimination all in the context of the bombings of Second World War.

image credits to:  http://pisceschick.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/sakuma-drops/

In all honesty, I find it hard not to cry just thinking back on the film. It's such a hard-hitting story and no matter which side you happen to be on at each end of any war - it tells the harrowing story of families broken by war, children forced into hardship as a consequence of it and just how horrible the consequences may be.  It's definitely a movie I recommend to everybody.

My first encounter with "Sakuma" drops was actually when I was in fifth grade, about a month after having watched the movie. I happened to see a familiar looking tin in the Unimart Grocery at Greenhills and started begging my dad to get it. Little did I know that the tin I actually got wasn't the actual brand of drops mirrored in the movie, but heck it was close.

image from:  http://mighty-mint.blogspot.com/

See, it's a similar concept and almost the same flavors but it isn't by the same company haha. But I was a child and I didn't care. The sentimental value these things held was enough for me. (For a detailed comparison of the differences between this brand and the original Sakuma Shiki, you can check this out: http://taro.haun.org/sakuma.html). After this tin, I couldn't find anything similar or remotely close to it for 8 years. But  after all this time searching and looking for these, I finally came across some tins in my local Saizen. I was ecstatic to say the least, and in my excitement, I bought two tins *_*

It's easy to tell after having tasted these why Setsuko held them so dear. There are about thirty to forty drops in each can with flavors derived from natural fruit juice. They're honestly the best hard candies I've ever tasted. There are flavors like mandarin orange, lemon (their lemon drops are legit yo), green apple, pineapple, grape, strawberry, mint and chocolate. My personal favorites are strawberry, pineapple, green apple and chocolate.


There is something about the nostalgia that accompanies these candies that gets to me, and it makes the experience of just having them when I'm stressed all the more meaningful.

Have you guys seen the movie? Or have you tried the candy? If you haven't you should. You're missing out haha. Lol, I swear this post isn't sponsored, but it'd be awesome if it was. SEND ME YOUR AWESOME CANDY JAPAN.

I promise I'll get back to better posting ASAP, and the newest format of Mixtape Mondays is coming soon, so watch out for that as well.

And don't foget! MY GIVEAWAY is still ongoing, so keep entering while you can! You can tweet and comment daily for more entries! :) I'm giving away a 1000 peso gift certificate for Fully Booked and 500 pesos worth of gift certificates for Robinsons Establishments (which also happens to include Saizen, the place where I bought these awesome candies). ENTER NOW!


Ada, signing out.