What I Drink In Japan

Japan is truly alien to the Western world. So much is unique. So many products domestically produced. In the UK and a lot of Europe there are so many brand names across the different countries. All connected. All overlapping. Including US brands as well. It’s a real mix.

Japan is Japanese. It is incredibly and impressively itself (there are exceptions of course - I used some Dove shampoo this morning). I noticed this in South Korea as well, the kettle, the air conditioner, the cars - overwhelmingly domestic brands. They produce everything and then they use it. Before I open my scope too much I wanted to talk about one aspect of this specifically - Japanese drinks.

Looking at the drinks section of a convenience store or perusing the choices in the many vending machines in Japan, you will see many unfamiliar items. It is hard to know what to look at.

Barley tea or 麦茶 (mugi cha) is a drink I have been attempting to convince myself I enjoy. It is a classic summer drink in Japan. Imagine a sweltering hot day. You are inside your old wooden house, fanning yourself as you drip sweat onto the floorboards. You reach for a refreshing iced barley tea. Doesn’t that sound good? Except when you bring it to your lips it just tastes really wheaty and is not at all what you wanted. Wheaty and barley-y. Well look, it is just not to my taste - as much as I try. It may be to yours.

There are plenty of other drinks. More classic summer drinks too. Aquarius and Pocari Sweat are two rival soft drinks found everywhere here. Marketed as sports drinks, functioning to replenish those pesky electrolytes you always need to top up. They are the perfect remedy to the immense amount of sweat you lose in the heat. They’ve got plenty of sugar in them as well. This is part of why I’ve cooled off them a little. Need to look after these pearly whites. Don’t want any furry yellows.

What’s the difference between them? Not a whole lot. I haven’t had Aquarius in quite some time but the taste is very similar. Coca Cola seems own every drink on this planet (Aquarius included), so when I get the chance I try to opt for the alternative drink that isn’t owned by them - so Pocari it is. You should really just grab whatever is at hand though as the difference is so minimal. Pocari Sweat does have the word sweat in it. So maybe that will convince you one way or the other.

Unfortunately I do not drink coffee so I am unable to give you much information on BOSS or Georgia coffee - or any other canned vending machine coffee. One thing I can say is that David Lynch directed a number of adverts for Georgia coffee set in Twin Peaks. So if I had to choose I would probably go Georgia. Agent Dale Cooper himself says it’s a damn fine cup of coffee.

While I may not be a coffee drinker, I sure as heck am a green tea/matcha chugger. Gimme that green. Matcha is hard to get around here in instant drinkable form. Japanese people don’t drink it that often. At least not as often as I did living next to a Pret A Manger in London.

Oi Ocha is a super green tea option. This pale green bottle does the trick. There is, however, an even better option than this standard version. Usually right next to it in the drink cabinet, in a refined dark green sleeve, is the Oi Ocha Bold. Bold is right. Much more flavoursome, it is a must in my life now. I have it in the mornings, getting that caffeine hit while filling up on those potent anti-oxidants. 

One of the drinks I’ve had a great deal of already in Japan, and have as yet been unable to find in vending machine and convenience store alike - is ginger ale. I have exclusively had this at izakayas (Japanese bars/pubs) as I do not drink alcohol and it is one of the few items on a Japanese drinks menu I can read. ジンジャーエール (Jinjyaa eeru). I probably just need to look a bit closer in 7/11.

There are so many drinks here. These are just a few I’ve gravitated towards. Vending machines are everywhere here. The choices vary but there are also some ever present drinks. It is so much part of the fabric of life in Japan. I would not touch a vending machine in the UK. I don’t believe I have since I was in school. Then again, you certainly wouldn’t find green tea in them.