Miracle drinks

Well, I didn't go to the tea ceremony after all... I had to cancel it last night in the wee hours when I was kept awake by a hurting throat and a cough. I woke up to a fever, sent messages to inform people about me missing classes, and went to the conbini (convenience store) to prepare for a day of staying inside and doing nothing - food, soyjoy (soy energy bars that have saved me so many times when I've needed a quick energy fix) and drinks.

Japan is the promised land of different miracle drinks and I'm not sure how I will survive back home without them. First there is the sports drink variety: Aquarius, Pocari Sweat and Dakara - things that supposedly give you back all the kinds of things you lose when sweating. I don't know how I can ever survive a day of practise without getting my Aquarius Zero fix... It's also great drunk on the way home from drinking, or on hangover days. Aquarius Zero is my chosen sports drink, but when I'm sick I prefer Dakara for some reason. I think it's basically the same stuff, but it advertises itself as a "body balance"-drink, so maybe it's just the slogan that has gotten me hooked. I once practically lived on Dakara for almost a week: we had gone to Shakey's pizza for the first time for a tabehôdai (eat as much as you can), and something very strange ensued - a pizza hangover. I couldn't eat for almost a week, becasue as soon as I as much as thought about food I got this nauseous feeling of having my stomach full, and for the first 2 days I felt almost feverish. At that time I also had a friend staying in my dorm room (very forbidden, I know... I'm such a bad girl *g*), and he bought me Dakara every day. I still remember the happy feeling on sunday when I felt hungry for the first time in a week!

Closely related to the sports drinks are the C-vitamin drinks, like Vitamin Water and Vitamin Guard. Also great for colds and hangovers, and warding off both of them. The thing is that there's 1000mg of C-vitamin in one 1/2l. bottle. A thousand. So, I seriously hope that it's true when they say it's impossible to get an overdose of C-vitamin... *g* There's also often honey and royal jelly included in the drinks, so if these don't work, I wouldn't know what would. Then you can also buy smaller bottles of them hot (like Hotto Remon = Hot Lemon), which is great for sore throat or cold winter evenings when waiting for your train - and for example this time I mixed some of my favorite herbal drops with the hot honey/lemondrink and... :) Works.

And last but not in any way least, is Ukon no Chikara. A wonderdrink in a small 100ml bottle that is the only working anti-hangover cure I've found this far. It's made from some plant from the family of ginger, it's got this strong yellow color and a peculiar taste. You drink it preferable before starting to drink alcohol, but I've had good results with taking it in the middle or even after drinking when coming back home drunk as .... well. Anyways, a quick trip to conbini, 1 UnC and one vitamin drink taken just before passing out - and it's possible to still wake up for the 9am japanese class next morning.

And these are not all, only those I've been using. There's also a Ninniku no Chikara made from garlic, various small and dark bottles of stronger vitamin drinks - almost anything one could imagine.

And let's not forget the selection of cold green teas that work wonders on hot summer days. You can also buy cold coffee in both cans and bottles, but they're often overly sweet and so fit only for some situations. Then there's a variety of different other teas, like barley tea, that take some time to get used to because the taste can be quite strange.

What will I do in Finland?

You can buy Ukon no Chikara as pills too, so I definitely have to bring those back to Finland with me (anything that gets me rid of the hangovers I get all too easily - and I don't even like to drink that much!). But the cold teas and my Aquarius Zero..? *sigh*