Ramune

Betsy and I had dinner at a sushi place the other night.

I went hunting through the menu for something to drink. My criteria are kinda strict: I can’t drink much alcohol at the moment, I don’t drink much soda, and I don’t usually like caffeine in the evening. So I look for less typical stuff like smoothies and bubble tea.

I found something called Ramune, advertised as a kids’ drink. Had absolutely no idea what it was. Sure, let’s try that.

Ramune – the name is apparently a Japanization of “lemonade” – is much weirder than I expected.

The drink itself is sugary and forgettable (“MADE with REAL SUGAR”), but the container is … bizarre. The kind of thing that gives Japan its reputation for weirdness.

The glass bottle came with directions for opening. These directions advised kids to have an adult open the bottle, but maybe it should have said “adults,” because this Ramune container required both of us working together to figure out. (Admittedly, I am not very good at stuff like this.) Basically, you remove the plastic cap, snap out the middle, and use that small plastic piece (shown on the right in the photo) to pop the marble out of the mouth of the bottle.

Yes, the marble. Because why wouldn’t there be a marble in your bottle? You can still see it in the neck, above.

The world is full of things.