Yup, I can’t resist Japan’s most famous oddly named beverage. I also spotted this ad on the front of a vending machine:
I’m sure I could come up with a number of off-color comments involving an attractive young woman and a sweaty pocari, but I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader.
That aside, I don’t have much to report about vending machines this time. I have only a few minor observations.
- There are fewer non-caffeinated, carbonated beverages than last time. Last year it was easy to find either Sprite or ginger ale for Tracie; this year it’s been difficult. On the other hand, I’ve found two kinds of Canada Dry ginger ale in stores and machines: Dry and Extra. They’re both excellent, with less sugar than North American products. (Remember the good old days when they had the jingle “it’s not too sweet”? Now it has as much sugar in it as any other soft drink.) Dry seems to have very little sweetness at all, and Extra is darker in color and maybe richer in flavor.
- There are fewer hot beverages in the machines. Last year there seemed to be a roughly equal offering of hot and cold; now I’d guess that only about 20% of the selection are hot. Rafael said this is probably because it’s later in the year, and they change the selections to suit the season. (They also switch the HVAC systems of all buildings from heat to AC on a designated day.) Handily, tea and coffee can be served either hot or cold. Sometimes you’ll find the same kind of tea and/or coffee offered both hot and cold in the same machine. I did find one machine that had hot cocoa served cold.
- I haven’t made too many new discoveries this time. I did have an excellent “Pineapple Squash” which proved to be a rather flavorful pineapple soda. Right now I’m drinking what I think is cold oolong tea with honey, but I don’t know exactly what it is because the can is labeled entirely in Japanese.
