Green Cola

Lifting the logo from the real thing, Asahi Green Cola positions itself in the market as a "natural" product with a sort of "trendy" appeal. Of course when your main barker is a popular, though somewhat long in tooth, J-Pop star, one is convinced that the marketers at Asahi have no idea what the kids are into. Perhaps the marketing is toward boomers, who probably also don't care about Kiyosuke Himoro either.

As for it's green-ness, the bottle states "For you natural life" and a bit below "'Asahi's Green Cola' is made from selected raw materials derived from plants such as fruits, with cola's own dynamism and briskness." What's inside? High fructose grape sugar, sugar, lemon juice, malt extract, and flavors. I suppose in the literal sense, the marketing is somewhat honest. Still, it's a bit of a shill.

As for the taste, it's very light in flavor, high in sugar. In the world of cola, there's the sugary maltiness of Coke, the citrus edge of Pepsi, and the pure kid's sugar fantasy of RC. This one approaches RC.

It just hit the market a couple of days ago. Between the US big boys, Kirin's Cola Shock and god knows what else shoves it's way onto the shelves, Green Cola's got a long row to hoe. Still it's better than Coke Zero. At least it's drinkable. And the big Zero seems to be having a fine shelf life.

Green Cola

Asahi just joined the cola wars by releasing their Green Cola（グリーンコーラ）May 25, with a full on ad blitz. They are promoting this cola as soda made from natural sources, with zero colours, zero caffeine, zero preservatives and Asahi Brewery's black malt. Hmm, sounds a little zero-ish. Perhaps they're going up against Coke Zero for the nothingness and Pespsi Baobab, with a sort of "green" branding. I haven't found it in the stores yet, but will be sure to give it a taste someday soon.

That 50-something Brian Ferry-ish guy in the poster is Kyosuke Himoro, J-pop star with the band Boøwy.

Pepsi Shiso - ペプシ じそ

Pepsi's been trotting out different summer promotions in Japan for the last couple of years. In 2007 they released Pespsi Iced Cucumber (too bad I missed that one!) and last year, Blue Hawiian. They've also been flaunting the genuinely undrinkable Pepsi Nex - a zero calorie soda designed to get market share from Coke Zero. I'm completely down with Chavez in banning Zero from the Venezuelan market. The revolution was not won on asapartame. I hope he does the same if and when Nex tries to conquer Venezuela.

But in a continuing travesty of trying to keep Japanese consumers interested in their market imperialism, Pepsi recently launched Pepsi Shiso on Japan for their summer enjoyment (?).

What it is is an electric green, artificially sweetened and shiso-flavored analog that gives a very strange blast of funky shisoness* and metallic punch at first sip, turning into a heavier and heavier drinking task as one tries to get through the 500 ml pet bottle. As it is, after a couple days, I could only get through about 1/2 the bottle.

I gave up today.

* Known in the west as perilla, shiso is strong herb - a bit minty, with a slight cilantro edge and a long taste. It comes in green or red leaves. It's used as a garnish for sushi, for flavoring sakes and sochus, and is a prime ingredient in umeboshi, the wonderful pickled "plums" that are a staple in the world of Japanese garnishes.

フレンチ セーキ

Tokyo based Kyodo Milk Industry Co., Ltd., under the Meito brand supplies a mess o' milk to the Kanto market. Apart from the usual, seemingly infinite variations on plain ol' milk - they have recently been touting a zero fat milk - they specialize in any number of flan and pudding products.  So it only seems right that they would spin off some of these ideas into drinkable form. The フレンチ　セーキ (French Shake) is a quite sweet - sugar, fruit sucrose, and grape sugar are all listed as ingredients - moderately low-fat milk drink. Egg yolk and vanilla Frenchify it.  

From years ago, I recall my first taste of French vanilla when the first Baskin Robbins stores crept out of California and hit the upper west coast.  French vanilla was the exotic premium version of plain ol' boring vanilla ice cream. The cloying egg custard taste was certainly offset by a somewhat real tasting vanilla. Plus it had little brown specs as further proof of its true vanilla roots... or rhizomes... or whatever.  All I really recall, was that despite it all - and that very strange yellow color - it somehow started my love affair with vanilla flavored milk products.

How's Meito's French Shake measure up?  Not bad in that sort of Proustian way that makes me want to write six volumes of filler between the first and last lines.  Sweet it is. It's got a moderately cloying eggy taste. And it reminds me of something from way back. Exactly why egg vanilla custardy things become French, I'm not so sure, mais longtemps, je me suis couche de bonne heure, after a nice glass of vanilla flavored milk.  Never was that much a fan of the egg though.

Dekavita C

Suntory's Dekavita C is in the realm of a long line of energy drinks marketed to Japanese consumers largely for hangover cures, but also for getting rid of bags under one's eyes, sexual enhancement and stamina, and God knows what else.  Like all energy drinks, it's basically carbonated sugar water with a few vague herbs or artificial flavors to give one the sense of maybe a bit of healthiness. Dekavita C boasts a number of B vitamins.  Oh, and C.  Tastewise, it's kind of the poor man's Red Bull. Like a light cassis, with a bit of a Robitussen edge, the taste follows through with quininic tannins.  A not entirely pleasant taste.  But remember this is supposed to be good for you.  And the massive jolts of sugar eventually cover up any sort of subtlety in the taste.  

Like many an energy drink Dekavita C capitalizes on the idea that by connecting with the very drink itself, the consumer connects with "energy." And this energy transforms one into... someone better, more appealing, beyond and outside of one' s self. It's a sacrament of shamanic release that let's one partake of the mysteries.  Of transcendence. Traditionally the realm of drugs and alchohol, the energy drink is attempting to usurp these venerable media, these keys to the beyond.  But let's face it.  It's still sugar water.

Bikkle

I can't help but think of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver whenever I pop a bottle of Bikkle, the Calpis-style milky cooler from Suntory.  Perhaps Robert De Niro may have never gone off the deep end if he had a regular supply of this somewhat sweet bifudus-laden concoction that's marketed for its wholesomeness and healthiness - chock full of calcium and magnesium. Like all drinks of it's ilk, it's sugar water - though pleasant in that sort of watery cloying keffir sort of way.  

It's got a wide-mouth bottle, so it's built for chuggin' and there's a little mascot below the 70s style typeface logo - Bikkle King. He seems to have been a bit of an afterthought, or perhaps there was little thought of him at all. Recently he's been usurped by superstar spokesmodels, PUFFY, a very popular singing duet.  The 2 girls that make up PUFFY go by the names of Jane and Sue. They caught the public attention a few years ago with their clear break from the manufactured techno-pop sound that had dominated the Japanese music scene for many years to a manufactured wholesome pop image and sound reminiscent of the Beatles and the Carpenters. If Travis Bickle had met Jane and Sue, rather than Iris, the end of the movie would have been much different.  Instead of ending like this -



It might have been something like this -

松竹梅 - いか酒

Mmmm. Fish flavored liquors! Found this one in a konbini in Kofu and, well... just had to try it. In my first travels to Japan, I bought fugu fin flavored sake. It tasted exactly how one would expect dried fish fins soaked in booze would. And to top it off, it left my mouth raw with whatever that active ingredient is in fugu that Japanese daredevil gourmets love. Being a bit of a slow learner, I could not resist this little one cup of ika sake (いか酒). The beautifully illustrated little squid phallus was calling my name.  And of course, it tasted exactly how one would expect - like dried squid soaked in booze. 

The Takara sake company, a 150 year old liquor manufacturer dreamed this one up, ostensibly creating a Hokkaido style winter warmer that would surely take Japan by storm. I'd suggest buying a bag of dried squid and having plain old sake on the side. However, I found another product out there - sake bottled in sun-dried squid skin containers.  After you drink the sake, you can eat the container.  Apparently they tried this at tourist spots in Iwate Prefecture about 40 years ago.  It really didn't go over that well.  But slow learners all, the Kimura Shoten store has decided to revive the "tradition" and try selling them again.  Kimura Shoten is the place that also makes fish-flavored ice creams. Need I say more.

ドクターペッパー

I try to stay away from products that are not really of Japanese origin, but I was taken by the marketing of Dr. Pepper here in Nihon.  It's not your daddy’s Dr. Pepper. Well, it’s got the same taste – that sweet, vaguely prune-juicey carbonated goodness. But Japanese marketers have gone balls out for the otaku market with crazy sexy anime illustrations of techno-babes with things like guns and bottles of Dr. Pepper spilling out of their cleavages. Politically correct it ain't. But in pure high velocity tastelessness, they're wonderful. Lowbrow art mystery man, Rockin’ Jellybean - http://www.rockinjellybean.com/ -is responsible for creating these buxom Dokuta Peppa girls. There are three of them on collectable cans that you can buy at many corner drink machines. But, damn, I always seem to get the one with the surfing lizard! Check out the Japanese Dr. Pepper websire here - http://www.drpp.jp/index.html

白桃＆さくらんぼ

The old tradition of not wasting anything is still being kept alive by corporate giants. On one level, this is a good thing. The rapaciousness of living rich in the first world has created an epidemic of wastefulness. Though perhaps more concerned with the bottom line than virtue, milk, soy beverage, and juice giant, Meito, has created a whey-based line of refreshments with their Milfull Mix series.

And just in time for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season, they've come out with a seasonal mix for your rehydrating pleasure after a long weekend binge under the cherry trees on your blue tarp. Milfull Mix 白桃＆さくらんぼ (white peach and cherry flavor) is a perfectly innocuous mix, in a lovely pink carton, that may be perfect for a quick chug before having that next One Cup. Beyond that, there's not much to recommend it. It has a very mild peachy flavor, a hint of cherry (or was that my imagination?) and a very slight milky-ness. Reach for a Calpis instead. Or better yet - how about that last spider at the bottom of the sake bottle? Remember - don't be wasteful!

十勝のむヨーグルトメロン

Tokachi-Nomu-Yogurt is a mildly melony slightly yogurty cooler that hit the Family Mart stores in late June. A seasonal refresher found in the cartoned juice and milk section, it has a nice milky mouthfeel and a generally pleasant and undemanding taste. All in all, the thing that the doctor sometimes orders. It comes from the York food division of Nissin Corporation, a mega-investment industry that spends much of its time and money on branding. The package itself has a strong word-graphic that simply says "melon." A farmer's hat, a melon, and the Sapporo Clock Tower complete the image of simple old-fashioned tastes and values (even though yogurt drinks are a quite modern addition to the Japanese food landscape and the clock tower was designed by Americans in 1878). The bold and straightforward package stands out amongst the rest of the noise on the shelf. Tokachi is a region of Hokkaido that is particularly famous for its melons, the Yuubari melon (夕張メロン), being a treasured treat from the area*. Whether the melons used in this drink come from there is unimportant. By making the relation in the consumer's mind, you've got them at least thinking that they are partaking in a gourmet experience.

NV

*In summer, at Tokyo department stores, a single melon can sometimes cost up to 20,000JPY.

プリンシェイク

Flan in a can! This amazing product from Pokka is not really available at the konbinis, but at Pokka vending machines. Vending machines lurk on nearly every corner in Tokyo - self-contained sites on the landscape of consumption proffering coffee, juices, soups, sodas, alcohol and more. The Pokka company revolutionized the vending machine paradigm in 1973 by offering the first hot coffee in a can via machine. The Japanese food industry has never looked back. But the プリンシェイク (Pudding Shake) may be the ultimate in fun and quite delicious street corner delicacies. Give the container 5 hard shakes (following the instructions printed on the can) and the canned flan goes all thixotropic, turning into a liquid caramel milk with small chunks of custard suspended therein. The ultimate treat for a hot afternoon at the laundromat.

NV