Genki/Health drinks

[dornachu]

I recently listened to a HK radio program, and they talked about this healthy drink recipe created by Japanese. Using burdock, daikon, daikon leaves, carrots and mushrooms, chopped to small pieces, (leave skin on), and boil for 1 hour. Heard it super for your health? Has anybody heard of this???

[torakris]

I don't know of this particular drink, but the past couple years in Japan has seen a surge in the health product market specifically the drink department. Every drink manufacturer in Japan seems to have a kenko (health) line consisting of various various vegetables and juices, usually consisting of 15 plus vegetables in one can, the most popular vegetables at the moment seem to be kale, melokhiya, and goya.

look here:

http://www.kenko.com/product/seibun/sei_891001.html

[dornachu]

Wow!! They look so good! Do they taste okay? Very tempted... I SO wish i were in japan. Just too many cute gagets, and .....the best is the cosmetic lines you guys carry there!!!

[torakris]

I have tasted a couple, the ones that are based entirely on the green vegetables are pretty nasty and even the people promoting them on tv admit that they are good FOR you, not necessarily good TASTING.

One I do like is called yasai seikatsu which translates to something like vegetable lifestyle and is a vegetable (carrot based) and fruit mix. My son drinks this almost daily and it is even on the menu at McDonald's (at least the ones by my house).

I know nothing about cosmetics, I can probably count on 2 fingers the number of times in one year that I put make-up on and even then it is usually just some lipstick and mascara, both of which are probably close to 10 years old!

[fresh_a]

Any comments on this Japanese hangover cure and energy drink? (Particularly the one with the liquid nicotine, aspirin, sugar, and caffeine)? I've checked out their website, but it's all Japanese !

[torakris]

I have never really "got " these, My Mother in law swears by these things and brings them over for my husband sometimes "because he needs to keep up his energy....".

They are a huge business here and there are probably more varieties than there are of soda.

[helenjp]

I can't think of any reason why these things should work, except that some of them have quite a bit of alcohol, so they may have a "Hair of the Dog" effect.

However, somebody once gave me a similar product when I got really sick when out, and it did get me home in one piece. Of course, since it worked so well, everybody figured that I *did* have a hangover after all, despite my protests!

[Hiroyuki]

I accessed Rakuten, the largest Internet shopping site in Japan. Such goods are there, but cannot be shipped overseas.

I made an inquiry to Sankyo, the manufacturer of Regain. They say there are no dealers that provide international shipping service.

You don't have similar products in France?

[torakris]

I am not sure of their availability outside of Japan, I couldn't seem to find any information, but I did find this interesting piece on them:

http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/japannotations.htm

unfortunately they are in the middle of the page (under Genki Drinks) and you need to scroll through a lot of other stuff to read it, it also has some nice pictures.

[fresh_a]

Thanks for the info Kristin. Regain seems to be a pretty unique product, that's why I was after it. I don't think they ship to Europe due to the product's ingrediants (liquid nicotine,etc) which are probably banned here in drink-products.. Great website!

[torakris]

Here is an interesting artticle:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/asi...cine/genki.html

Bottled Energy

Do Genki drinks have real fizz? TIME takes them for a road test

When Japanese office workers need to get through another day of doing virtually nothing, they reach for genki drinks, supposedly stuffed with traditional well-being ingredients like ginseng or viper tincture. But are genki products just a waste of good Red Bull money? We analyzed four popular beverages using the most precise scientific method possible: Yuman Wong, TIME's newsdesk manager, guzzled and noted the results