Sunday, January 25, 2009

Why Do Japanese Hate Root Beer?

Source: Mike's Blender

Have you ever wondered why you can almost never find root beer in Japan? Except for a few specialty shops, it's pretty much non-existent over here. What gives?
If you ask a random Japanese person, the chances are good that they've never even heard of it and/or are convinced it's some kind of alcoholic drink. If they have heard of it, or tried it, then it's a good bet that they don't like it. Root beer equals that medicine-like softdrink that, to them, tastes the way a medical cool compress smells. Philistines....
I decided to find out if rootbeer's bad rep here really is deserved by taking my root beer quiz to the streets. Well not exactly the streets, more like my classrooms. Find out first hand what Japanese people really think!



5 comments:

Chris said...

Root beer is popular in Singapore, where A&W has a lot of stores. I am an expat American in London, and I have never found a Brit who liked it. The general opinion is that it tastes like bubble gum. You can only get it here in stores that cater to expats.

Of course, I like Moxie, so perhaps I should be discounted as an expert on root beer. You can't even get Moxie in the specialty stores here. My siblings in the US hate it. Try feeding Moxie to Japanese people. They will probably get very violent.

Unknown said...
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Degenerasian said...

I've had Moxie before. It was pretty good!

Chris said...

Well, a fellow Moxie drinker? Who knew?

I wish I could get it here in London but the only way I could get it is to import it myself. I console myself by buying a 6-pack whenever I visit my family in Massachusetts.

Roger Williams said...

It's amusing that root beer is viewed as "medicinal tasting" in the land where Calpis and Pocari Sweat are guzzled by the gallon. Taste really is regional.