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Gum in Japan

torakris

By torakris
in Japan: Cooking & Baking

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torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

I think the Japanese do wonderful things with gum!

!5 years ago on my first trip to Japan I couldn't get enough of the blueberry gum, I just loved that flavor. :biggrin:

My newest addiction is Meiji's Xylish in ume mint

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what are some of your favorite flavors?

This is what the inside of the container looks like

gallery_6134_1003_31113.jpg

it actually took me a while to figure out that those papers are to be used for disposing of the gum.... :hmmm:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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Kristin,

I've been wondering since you posted it about how the flavors of mint and ume balance out.

Doesn't the mint overpower the ume?

it is actually very balanced and if anything the ume taste is stronger. The ume taste sort of fades into a very mild mint taste.

Many Japanese mint gums are quite mild nothing like some of the really strong flavored ones in the US.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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smallworld

smallworld

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I love the fun Lotte flavours like Ume, Mangosteen, Sweetie and Blueberry. But I've been avoiding sugar recently so have switched to Lotte Xylitol gum in Lime Mint. I love that stuff.

But seeing as Lotte is a Korean company, I wonder if any of the above gums can be considered Japanese?

I haven't seen the Ume Mint flavour yet. Looks really good.

My eGullet foodblog: Spring in Tokyo

My regular blog: Blue Lotus

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anzu

anzu

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On the issue as to whether one should consider the gums Korean and not Japanese, I think one should simply consider them Japanese.

There are the following issues to be considered:

Is it aimed at the Japanese market and at Japanese tastes rather than the Korean market and Korean tastes?

As a parallel, there are various flavors of chips (crisps) available in India right now that are made by foreign manufacturers but that are aimed at only the Indian market and are not sold (as far as I know) in other countries. Seeing as you can't even buy them anywhere else, I would call these Indian chips, even though other people might feel differently.

Similarly, the food manufacturer Knorr here in Germany sells a lot of products that are aimed at German tastes and are less readily available in other countries. In Thailand, Knorr makes products such as Tom yam stock cubes and so forth. Knorr is now a company that has been taken over by Unilever (a joint United Kingdom-Dutch corporation). However, I don't think it would be helpful to say that 'Gulash sauce' (one of their German products :blink: ) or Tom yam stock cubes, (or the shiitake flavored stock cubes which they also make in Thailand), could usefully be termed British or Dutch products.

There is also another aspect to consider:

If the criterion were going to be rigorously applied about not considering a product Japanese if the company behind it is not Japanese , then a huge proportion of the sweets available for sale in Japan would have to be considered non-Japanese.

It is not generally known and is most definitely not publicized (I only found out by accident while at an academic conference), but most of the sugar companies and sweet companies in Japan actually have Taiwanese ownership. This goes back to Japan's colonial relationship with Taiwan. Most of Japan's sugar was imported from Taiwan (I'm not so sure if this is still the case in present times). At the end of World War Two, and with Taiwanese independance from Japan, Taiwanese people stepped into the gap in the market that appeared concerning the import of sugar and the manufacture of products using sugar.

And the whole issue would get even more complicated (and also too political) if you also consider that some of these Taiwanese owners may have been in Japan for three generations now but are still legally Taiwanese and not Japanese.

So how could one possibly make a distinction between a foreign versus a Japanese producer in that type of situation? It's easier, I think, to simply call this type of product Japanese. :smile:

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lambretta76

lambretta76

Posted
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I just picked up the Lotte green tea mint from my corner Korean greengrocer and it is quite tasty. It is a Korean-made gum with Japanese, Korean, and English writing on it, so I'll think of it as equal parts Korean and Japanese...

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anzu

anzu

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Sure wish they had sugar-free versions of my favourite flavours though...

So do I!!!

Do you think anyone would actually pay attention if one wrote to them asking for it, or started a petition?

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  • 2 months later...
anzu

anzu

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I just bought some Lotte Xylitol Blueberry Mint gum today.

Though made in Japan, it's labelled entirely in simplified Chinese, so obviously intended for export to China.

Now for the fun part: so as to be able to sell it in Europe, where the ingredients apparently have to listed in a language that can be read locally, they've stuck a little paper label onto the back of the pack. It lists the ingedients in six languages, and then has another sticker again with Nutrition Facts - Calories, Fat, Protein, Sodium and 'Hydrocarbons'. :biggrin::shock:

Okay, I can sort of understand getting carbohydrates and hydrocarbons the wrong way round, but it has still made my day.

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