Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Eel juice made by a tobacco company? Sounds fishy.
A canned drink called "Unagi Nobori," or "Surging Eel," made by Japan Tobacco Inc., hit the nation's stores this month just ahead of Japan's annual eel-eating season, company spokesman Kazunori Hayashi said Monday.
"It's mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer's heat," Hayashi said of the beverage, believed to be the first mass-produced eel drink in Japan. Many Japanese believe eating eel boosts stamina in hot weather.
The fizzy, yellow-colored drink contains extracts from the head and bones of eel and five vitamins - A, B1, B2, D and E - contained in the fish. [...] The $1.30 drink costs about one-tenth as much as broiled eel, but has a similar flavor.
I think its market potential here in the states might be limited.
"It's mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer's heat,"
Hmmm. In my personal experience the roofers who re-shingled my roof and were presumably fatigued and definitely HOT (not hott but damn it was hot out) seemed to have a preference for beer.
At noon I asked how it was going and promised cold beer after it was done. I think that may have been the best fifteen bucks I ever spent.
Posted by: Tripp at July 30, 2008 12:06 PMIt should go without saying that they got the beer when the job was done and they were down on the ground. I'm a good old boy but I'm not stupid. Neither were they.
Posted by: Tripp at July 30, 2008 12:08 PMHa! It's for men who pine for their lost virility. Let's drink juice made from long snaky critters and partake of their long snakiness! It's sympathetic magic in its most basic form. Want a side order of rhino horn with that?
Paging Bob Dole.
Posted by: Zeno at July 30, 2008 01:36 PMZeno,
Is that what they were talking about? I thought it was some kind of Asian Gatorade thing.
Shoot, if you want sympathetic magic at least Rhino horn is hard. Who wants a squirmy eel? I want a horn. A hard horn. A massive hard horn. A Rhino horn!
Hey, is that where the term being horny came from? It never occurred to me before.
Posted by: Tripp at July 30, 2008 03:08 PM"Unagi nobori" is also a phrase used to mean "rapid rise" in stocks or real estate prices, in your own luck, or in other good things, like getting a promotion at work -- another way in which the drink is being aimed at men heading into the office every day. Japanese women don't care about promotions since they all retire at 26 to have kids anyway, or at least that's what the executives at Japan Tobacco must think. And here's a picture of the drink.
Remember, the MSM never gives you the whole story. Blogz ROOL!!!
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at July 30, 2008 10:50 PMSpeaking of delicious: Chocolate-covered bacon cake.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at July 31, 2008 12:12 AMIt sounds like it leaves out the rather sticky, gelatious eel skin, but presumably that will be included in the version to be marketed to ladies.
Posted by: TokyoTom at July 31, 2008 03:41 AMGaijin,
And here's a picture of the drink.
Holy moley. Is that Buster Brown on the bottle? How did he get to Japan?
"That's my dog Tige, he lives in a shoe!!
I'm Buster Brown, look for me in there, too!!"
Oh. Yeah. I'm *old*. Can't seem to forget things either. That's my curse.
Posted by: Tripp at July 31, 2008 11:14 AMTripp, that's NOT Buster Brown on the unagi drink bottle, but some guy in apron who's been roasting up eels.
Posted by: TokyoTom at August 1, 2008 02:54 AM