Only in Japan... Tokyu Hands Edition Part II

More ramune in "normal" and wacky flavors!

- Wasabi Ramune: I am actually curious about this one, believe it or not! May be I'll take the fall next time ^.^

- Kibidango (millet cake) Ramune: curious about this one too, although I'm hesitant to try it. Why? Because I'm afraid it might have the taste of mitarashi, a soy sauce syrup that they smother some dangos with. The vast majority of the time, I love the mix of sweet and salty, but for some reason my palate just rejects this combination of mitarashi dango. In my opinion, the soy sauce usually comes out rather strong in mitarashi, and so it overwhelms the much more mildly flavored dango. I prefer my dango with kinako, or soy bean flour.

- Momiji Manju Ramune: momiji manju is a maple leaf shaped cake with red bean paste inside. It's a regional variation of the more common manju, a specialty of Hiroshima.

***Momiji manju picture from Cultural News.

- Tea Ramune: made with green tea from Shizuoka, a famous tea producing region in Japan. Actually, I'd be surprised if they didn't have a tea flavored ramune, because tea is an inevitable flavor/ingredient in Japan!

- Charcoal Ramune: okay, this is just nutty xD I mean, I wouldn't mind having charcoal in topical products like soaps (Pelican Deitanseki Clay & Charcoal Facial Cleansing Bar, MAX Sumi Haigou Sekken) or skincare, but ingesting it is an entirely different story. When I saw this bottle, my thought process goes something like this, soda + block of charcoal = ?!? The white font at top says 未知の味 - unknown flavor! Unknown indeed, and I'm not sure I want to know either ^.^

- Salt Ramune: made with fishermen seaweed salt! I actually bought this one and I'm happy to report it didn't taste so bad ^.^ Like a salty lemonade minus the lemonade, which leaves us with just a salty soda LOL! Hubby thought it was pretty weird, but I like it because I'm very tolerant with the sweet and salty combo (with the exception of mitarashi, see Kibidango Ramune above). Have you ever had a salty lemonade a salty preserved plum in a soda? They're quite delicious, honest!    

- Rose Fragrance Ramune: hubby and I laughed out loud with this one. The idea of a rose fragrance soda is intriguing, but not hilarious. Instead, we were laughing over the text on the bottle. The rounded sticker at lower left of the bottle says: 夢はかなうあなたの夢もきっとかなう - "Dreams come true. Your dreams too will surely come true." Also, the dark, barely visible line of text on the far right of the rose says: バラの香りの夢に挑戦するあなたへのラムネ - "A ramune for you, one that attempts to realize a dream of rose fragrance." Bwahahaha! Seriously? It's a freakin' bottle of soda! And what's with the gothic packaging and bluish purple color?! LOL!

- Hokkaido Shirakaba (silver birch) Ramune: with 10% birch sap from Bifukacho, Hokkaido. I'm so going to try this one next time!

- Yogurt Ramune: another flavor developed from a high school internship project. Given my positive experience with the Caramel below, this and the Cream Puff have become the must try flavors!

- Caramel Ramune: I have a weakness for anything caramel, so you bet I bought this one. It's a third flavor from the said high school internship project. I expected a sugary sweet soda but it turned out to be surprisingly delicious and was neither sugary or coyingly sweet. It was this flavor that made me regret not buying Cream Puff as well as Yogurt above.

See my previous posts:
- Only in Japan...
- Only in Japan... Part II
- Only in Japan... Tokyu Hands Edition