I think when you live in another country for a year you take a lot of it with you when you go home. Because I lived in Tokyo for a year I find myself obsessed with recycling, always the right recyclable in the right box. This happened because I was afraid of messing up when I put my garbage out on Tuesday and Thursday, the Japanese have basically been regimented into proper trash removal and will actually wade through their neighbors garbage if they are improperly disposing of their materials. Naturally, if your neighbor has to do this they hold a grudge, that fear has made me responsible and green here.
Bubble Man II: In the distant cold future of 20XX Mega Man must fight Carbonated beverages to gain new powers
The other thing that happens is you get nostalgia for strange things, small everyday things that kind of defined your routine and life there. For me it was my love of soda in Japan. Strangely, when I'm in America I never drink soda unless it’s part of a package deal. I think its because I know that its just empty calories, something that catches up with you when your trying to be active. I think it was the novelty that drove me to being a carbonation connoisseur; Bubble Man soda is probably the best example. Its trippy, colorful LSD fever dream inspired labels drove me to try each one of its general and seasonal soda line-up. The soda had far too much carbonation for my taste and was just a hyped up sprite in taste, but just the sheer excess in design and craziness made me excite to try Bubble Man: Space or Bubble Man: Lava.
This Bubble Man, unfortunately, is not associated with the Soda
The Soda I drank the most while I was there was just plain regular Coke-Cola. I think this was a function of Coke-Cola of Japan having the soda machine rights of perhaps 60% of the machines in Japan and there was one literally attached to my small three story apartment building. The other was taste, I like American Coke, but it’s too thick for me. I just can't constantly drink a soda that makes me feel like I'm dissolving my teeth. Japanese Coke had the same genuinely good taste but was watered down to perfection, it gave me the satisfaction of having my Coke and eating it too, well, maybe that’s an odd turn of the phrase but I think you catch my point. Also, as a poor hungry college student with no money, living in a country where food can be expensive and the portions small, I wasn't watching my caloric intake. If anything the vast quantities of Coke I drink kept me alive as I lost a good 15lbs living in Japan, something a 6 ft. tall 155lb base human twig doesn't take so well.
Mellon Soda and CC Lemon were also some of my favorites, though Curry flavored ramune was not the trip to delicious town that I had wished it had been. Anyone else have any favorite sodas or beverages with a international flair? Mexican Coke is the pinnacle of delicious for me, but Japan did give me a lot of interesting flavorful experiences.
Strange, I remember my Coke machine having far fewer feet....
Log in to comment