Chocolate Sparkling

In my continuing quest to try all of the strange and wonderful drinks that come out here in Japan, this morning I spotted a new one in a vending machine on the street.

Chocolate Sparkling. Imagine putting some poor quality chocolate in your mouth and then taking a swig of soda water. That's exactly how it tastes.

Verdict: horrible.

Organising Office Parties

I've written about using name seals (inkan) in Japan before. Their main use is for stamping documents saying that you've read the contents and approve. They're also used in other non-official circumstances like this one:

You print out a schedule or calendar and get everyone to stamp the days that they're unavailable. The person in charge of organising the event or party uses this to work out a suitable date. In this case, the party is being held to welcome me into the department I've been newly assigned to. Whenever someone enters the company or moves to a new department, this always happens.

All of the official documents come round on clipboards just like this one. In those cases, the contents are obviously a lot more serious and formal. Once everyone has read it and approved, it usually goes up to the CEO and when he stamps it, it comes back down to us mortals and we file it away.

Salt & Lime for Breakfast

Kirin have brought out a drink that I haven't seen before. Picked it up from the conbini on the way to work. Salty Lime in Japanese, Salt and Lime in English. It tastes exactly like it sounds. I like it.