Ch^H^H...Train of Thought

Would you buy a drink named "Pocari Sweat"?

When I was a kid, I went to Taiwan. There I had those little yogurt drinks. When I got back, I remember being estatic that my mom had found places to buy that stuff here. Even now, I still periodically get those despite them being little more than watered-down yogurt and sugar. Nevertheless, I still love that stuff.

So, it's about a month since I got back from Japan and all of a sudden I feel like drinking one of the sports drink type stuff I had there. Yesterday, I was almost about to go to a Japanese supermarket despite crazy traffic on my way home just to see if they had any of them. For some odd reason, the electrolyte drinks appeal to me in that they have a light taste opposed to the heavily sugared drinks most normal Americans drink. And they're healthier than yang-le-dou.

Well, I did just that on my way back from buying batteries for a model airplane. I went to a small produce store at about Stevens Creek and Wolfe. Inside, they had one little cooler with various drinks. Most of them were bottled green tea or Calpis brand yogurt water. Out of the category of drinks I was looking for, they had only one: Pocari Sweat. And while it tastes roughly the same as Dakara and Aquarius, secretly, I was hoping for one of the other two. I don't even know why. Maybe it's the name. Would you buy a drink named "Pocari Sweat?" Or rather, would you mind people asking you why you're drinking something that has "sweat" in its name?

From what I could tell in Japan, Pocari Sweat and Aquarius both have very similar electrolyte blends and may be a bit more salty. They're made roughly the same as Gatorade but without the artificial flavoring and probably less glucose as well. Dakara is slightly different; assuming I didn't read it incorrectly, it's more like a dietary supplement. Something about calcium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and other stuff.

Anyways, at $2.20 a bottle, I don't think I'll be buying this stuff too often. Perhaps at some point in time, I'll go check out a few other markets if I pass by them.