It's summer here in Japan, which means it's time for special summer products. Food in Japan is much more seasonal than anywhere else in the world, in my opinion. It's important to eat the right foods at the right time of the year in order to get the maximum taste experience. For example, one kind of fish may be caught all year round, but when it's caught in a certain month it is at its best (and accordingly, is at its most expensive price). Fruit and veges are the same. Melons, watermelons, cherries etc. have a boom towards the middle and end of summer. That's when you can find those famous $100 watermelons.

Corporations recognise the seasonal attitude Japanese have towards shopping, so they often bring out seasonal products too. The other day I dropped in at 7-11 and found that they had stocked up on new season summer drinks, so I picked out three that looked interesting.

First we have Lipton Pineapple Tea Summer Package.

Now this product is actually quite good. Generally, fruits like apples and peaches get mixed with iced tea. This is the first time I had had pineapple iced tea, and it was great. Sweet, but not too sweet. Just enough to take away the bitterness of the tea. Leaves a nice aftertaste. Two thumbs up.


Next we have Lipton Orange Mint Tea.

Lipton was looking good after their pineapple experiment, but the orange mint doesn't quite do it for me. The first half of the bottle was good. Cool, refreshing and with a minty aftertaste. But the second half of the bottle became a challenge to drink. The mint starts to overpower both the orange and the tea and you're left drinking a lukewarm, minty tea that tastes like it's been left open for a few days before drinking. Half a thumb up.



The next one is a real mystery.

Picture this: Pepsi bigwigs are sitting around a conference table in Tokyo trying to decide what their big summer product will be.

"We need a new Pepsi flavour that encapsulates summer. Something cool, something refreshing, something crisp, something that makes you want to go to the beach and party with bikini babes."

"How about Pepsi Lemon?"

"No, we've done that"

"Pepsi orange?"

"No, too boring."

"Pepsi cherry?"

"No, Coke did that."

"Pepsi Vanilla?"

"No, Coke did that too."

"Hmmm..... I've got it!"

(pause for effect)





"Pepsi Ice Cucumber!!!!"

"That's brilliant! Cucumber is cool and refreshing, just like lemons and oranges! We'll make a fortune!!"

Hmmm, where to begin. Pepsi Ice Cucumber is cool in colour (a kind of ice aquamarine) and comes in a cool bottle. The taste is... well... pretty much what you'd expect when you mix Pepsi and cucumber. It tastes cool, but has a flavour that is very hard to describe. It's not like drinking a liquid cucumber and it's not like drinking a Pepsi. It's just... odd. So odd in fact, it is actually very hard to drink. The weird thing is, it doesn't really taste bad. It just tastes unusual. It's refreshing, but at the same time kind of nasty. I'd take one sip and think "Hmm, this is good", then the next sip I'd be thinking "Hmm, this is awful". It's a very confusing drink. However, this drink does have one redeeming point. If you are really interested in understanding Japanese culture, you don't need to read thick books or talk to sociology professors. Just try some Pepsi Ice Cucumber. It's like the essence of Japan distilled in a bottle. One thumb sideways.


Finally, I thought I'd add one more product. This isn't a new product, nor is it a summer product. This came with my school lunch one day. Often school lunches come with some kind of dessert. For example, a cup of jelly, a fruit salad or a frozen yogurt are quite common desserts. However, occasionally we get a completely random item to finish the meal with. The other day we were given this...

ALMOND FISH! (even if you can't read Japanese you can probably tell it's almond fish by the picture of the almond and the fish holding hands)

Almond fish is a little packet of roasted almonds and dried tiny fish. Just what everyone needs to cleanse the palate after a delicious meal. No, thank you. Two thumbs down.