Vending Machine Fun

Posted on 09. Jun, 2006 @ 1:00 am by in Culture Views: 655

Cheap shot. Vending machine fun. This topic has been done to death, but this is pretty… unique. Or not.

I have never been to Brazil, but I tried this drink in the middle here, and I can say that I felt real Brazilian passion when I did. It felt kinda like carbonated Kool-Aid.

Vocab Lesson! tansan たんさん 炭酸 Carbonation.

The label says, “Sparkling Drink from Brazil”.  Is it really? Anyone reading this site in Brazil and can tell me if this is true? I’m willing to bet this drink doesn’t exist outside of Japan…

We all know “Pocari Sweat”. I happen to like it. However, I did not know that  Pocari Sweat contained citrate^3-.  If I did, well… heh. If I did, you know what I would have done… I would have done what anyone would have done… I would have started drinking Pocari Sweat a lot sooner… err… later… daily? Never?
Are negatively charged ions a good thing?

What kind of ions are in the Brazilian passion drink? Are they positive or negative? Or… both?

- Harvey

  • Tim

    Citrate^3- is just the same as citric acid, which is part of lemon juice. Acids can dissociate to form their ions, so citric acid would form citrate^3- and hydrogen^+. So sodium hydroxide plus citric acid makes sodium citrate and water. There’s phosphoric acid in Coke, which forms phosphate PO4^1 and H+. Likewise, table salt, sodium chloride, would give rise to Na+ and Cl-. As a solid, the Na+ and Cl- are arranged in a grid, but in liquid, they all move around. Like a big ionic party.

    Chemistry aside, I’d love one of those Takayama beef buns…..

    Tim (a scientist who has been to Takayama)

  • Mike Barnett

    Yes, Guarana is a popular drink in Brazil. I’ve traveled there on business a number of times over the past few years.

    Guarana, the drink, comes in part from the Guarana plant. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarana
    for more info.

    Think about Guarana as a local or regional soft drink, on par with a Pepsi or Coke. There are numerous brands of Guarana drinks in Brazil. I rarely see Guarana offered outside Brazil, other than as an ingredient in Red Bull or other fizzy “energy” drinks.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    Holy cow!

    Thanks for the info Mike! I thought this was just another crazy English scheme.

    I learn so much from this blog… Thanks!

  • mdchachi

    You’re lucky. We were keeping our eyes out for Guarana all week, especially the one sold under the Mets brand. Seems to be pretty rare in Tokyo these days. We did have some off-brand guarana in an izakaya but it was too sweet and not quite as good.

    Guarana drinks seem to go up and down in popularity in Japan but it’s been around for many years now. I’ve never seen this “Cheerio” brand before.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    Wow why does everyone want to drink this Guarana stuff? I tried it that day, but didn’t think it was especially all that delicious… Maybe I’m missing something?

    I’ll give it a try again next time I see it!

  • mdchachi

    It might depend on the brand. I think there is a high variability between the various Guarana-based drinks. Try to find the Mets one (made by Kirin I think). Probably the stuff sold in Brazil is completely different altogether.

    If you like Dr Pepper then you should like Guarana.

  • Vince

    I can attest about guarana in Brazil as well. I went there a few years back and saw that even coke carries a brand of guarana. For me it felt very refreshing, especially in the hot climate of the country. As a side note, I was quite surprised by the amount of japanese descendants in there. It seems that there was a huge migration in the past. Everywhere I looked in San Paulo there was someone with asian (or japanese, if you wish) complexion. Maybe there is an active guarana trade between japan and brazil because of this? ;)

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    This is good guarana info we\’re getting here! That\’s right there are lots of Japanese in Brazil, and there are also a lot of Brazillians in Japan. Many of them live in Aichiken working as factory workers, and also similar in Hamamatsu-cho. In Hamamtsu, the signs are in Japaense, Portuguese, and THEN English.

    I read an article about this once… I\’ll look it up again and get some facts.

    From Wiki:

    In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil attracted over 5 million European and Japanese immigrants.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

    http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990809/japan1.html

    Quote…

    It\’s the small things the Brazilians do that annoy some Japanese in Toyota City. The immigrants don\’t throw their garbage where they are supposed to. They gather outside and play loud music at night. They play a strange card game that involves yelling \”Truco!\” at the top of their lungs. To Japanese in one densely populated public housing complex, it feels as if the foreigners are closing in on them, the smoke from the barbecues suffocating them, the Latin music drowning out an imagined tranquility. Ten years ago there were 200 Brazilians in the complex. Today there are 3,500. \”The sidewalks are getting narrower,\” said a Japanese woman as she maneuvered a grocery cart through a gathering of Brazilian families. \”There\’s no room for us anymore,\” said her friend. 

  • Vince

    Interesting article, Harvey. I wonder how messy it is for them to threat someone that has the same bloodlines as they as foreigners? I didn’t see any prejudice against the “japanese-brazilians” in Brazil though. And this made me laugh:—””A lot of the Brazilians work very hard,” says Takayuki Kato, Toyota City’s deputy police chief, adding that this is because “they are of Japanese descent.”

    This is one of those things that really makes you say: WTF?

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    Hey Vince, the prejudice thing in Japan runs deep… I would imagine if you asked most Japanese if there was any type of racism against Japanese-Brazillians… They would say no, not at all.

    While I was in Hamamatsu, a friend took me to a Brazillian club actually. And let me tell you. I have been to many clubs in Japan, and this one was NOT Japanese.

    I have never been to Brazil, but I think that club in Hamamatsu was the closest I have ever been. It was completely latin, and not just on the surface.

    Here is another relevent wiki entry.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-Brazilian

    “Brazil is the Latin American country that has received the most ethnic Japanese immigrants, as well as the host country of the largest Japanese community outside Japan (numbering between 1.3 and 1.5 million, compared to about 800,000 in the United States). ”

    I think Brazil even had a Japanese “president” at one time. Though, obviously, Japan has never had a Brazilian Prime Minister.

    It would be interesting to look more into this… The position of Japan/ese born Koreans is also very interesting as well. Even though they may be 5th generation, never been to Korea, only speak Japanese, have Japanese names, went to Japanese schools, and for all intents and purposes “are” Japanese, they still need to carry the standard Gaijin card, and have to use the “re-entry” line at airport immmigration.

  • Andy Johansen

    Peru had a president of japanese origin.

  • FYI

    Many Japanese born Koreans have kept their nationality (as citizens of ROK) of their own will, or of their parents will. They can become Japanese subjects by naturalizaion with relatively easy procedures if they want.　About 10000 Japanese born Koreans get naturalized every year recently.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    So if they are naturalized I assume they would no longer need to carry around the Gaijin card.

    Interesting. I can see why peopel would not want to become naturalized and stay true to their Korean roots as well though.

  • Adam

    Tris drink is very very very good!!!

  • Komaki

    The easiest way to get Guarana in Japan is buying from Brazilian Online stores like http://www.the-amigos.com and http://www.quitandinha.com You can also find a lot of Brazilian Foods and cheap Aussy meat for churrasco .

  • Andrew in Ezo

    “The position of Japan/ese born Koreans is also very interesting as well. Even though they may be 5th generation, never been to Korea, only speak Japanese, have Japanese names, went to Japanese schools, and for all intents and purposes “are” Japanese, they still need to carry the standard Gaijin card, and have to use the “re-entry” line at airport immmigration.”

    You know if they don’t like that, they can always do the simple thing- get Japanese citizenship. It’s not that difficult, especially if they’ve lived in Japan all their life.

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