Oreskaband is a 6-piece girl band with ska-pop roots that was formed while the musicians were still high school in 2003 and quickly rose to stardom after their song, "Hana no Ska Dance" was picked up for a commercial for the popular Japanese candy Pocky. Not only was their music used in the TV spot, but the musicians themselves were part of the characters, which gave the band national recognition. In 2005, they released their first album Penpal and within a few months were signed with Sony Music Japan.

What’s interesting about this girl band is that the musicians including Ikasu, Tomi, Tae-San, Saki, Moriko, and Leader, play sax, trombone, trumpet, as well as guitar, bass and drums. Oreskaband has performed at the prestigious Fuji Rock Festival, and recorded with trombone player and Ska legend Rico Rodriguez on his album "Japa-Rico = Rico Rodriguez Meets Japan."

Playing at Anime Expo June 30th to thousands of anime, manga, and J-pop fans from America may have been the highlight for this new band from Japan, but also marks another moment in the Japanese invasion of music among young people in America. As noted in previous stories such as the J-Rock Revolution piece, Japanese musicians are recreating their own sounds and instrumentation which is being adapted by young people in America—often through an early introduction of anime, or in this case, through the Pocky commercial.

What this means is that we can expect more influences from music in Japan to have an effect on young people in terms of style, fashion, technology, and culture. And while in the past, most of this influence for both genders was coming from male musicians, with Oreskaband, here’s the beginning of a new type of influence coming from girls.