Food and Drink

A fair number of Tokyo’s train stations now boast juicer stands, which sell freshly squeezed juice that, rather appropriately, can be happily supped while standing. These relatively recent additions offering the chance of some welcome relief after a particularly packed commute, or even some help with a horrible hangover.

However, for those frequenting stations that don’t have such stands, or are simply turned off by train travel, then help is luckily at hand, or even in one’s pocket, with this pint-sized portable version.

A beverage that is not only portable, but extremely palatable, although the bountiful number of coconut bits can initially be decidedly disconcerting.

Most of Japan’s bewildering selection of beverages sit comfortably in a certain category, but Asahi’s Vegesh is as nonconformist as its name, happily striding various varieties. You see, not only does it contain 21 vegetables and 5 different kinds of fruit, but rather cannily, it is also a cocktail, packing a fairly respectable 4 percent of alcohol.

A unique combination that allows one to stay healthy while at the same time getting happily hammered, which, judging by the quality of the video below, is exactly what this YouTube user was doing when they uploaded this woefully crap copy of the current commercial.

Oh, and as far as taste goes, it’s surprisingly pleasing — almost Fanta-esque in its fizzy freshness. Plus, after feeling especially thirsty and firing down five, all that fruit and fibre has left me feeling in fine fettle.

For those on the look-out for a coffee that is enticingly full bodied or even a bit fruity, then this release from the Roots line is probably best left alone, as although its container is a little curvaceous, the drink itself is decidedly demure.

There again, what’s a brief bit of fieriness compared to the offer of a fine life?

That said, technology boasts aside, it doesn’t taste much different from the myriad of other canned coffees on the market, except for perhaps being a tad less tart.

When it comes to lemon-based beverages, Japanese vending machines have a veritable glut of such goods, with even Pepsi recently succumbing to a splash of citrus with its slightly sickly summer special.

But for the leader in all things lemon, it has to be Lemon’s Lemon. A drink that supposedly contains a staggering 50 of the oval offerings, which is a considerable amount for such a tiny container.

This concentration apparently making it good for all manner of maladies,

with a quick slurp,

quickly sorting one out.

Oh, and as far as taste goes, it’s not too bad, although it is somewhat citrusy.