Sangaria Gettin’ Cool! Melon Soda, Botan Rice Candy.

Get ready, because this is the last one. Well, that’s not strictly true, I’ve also got a bottle of Lorina Sparkling Pink Lemonade, but I’ve had it before — it’s pretty good, but nothing to write home a blog post about, and the bottle isn’t particularly interesting.

This is a good bottle, though. It’s pretty hefty aluminum, and you don’t see metal bottles often. The katakana appear to read (going from the couple that I can remember (from the occasions when I get interested in learning Japanase, which generally last about a month and then I forget almost all of it afterwards) and extrapolating): me-ro-n so-da (the middle character on the bottom row indicates a long vowel). You learned something today! Assuming you don’t already know how to read katakana.

Smells: Faintly of melon. Dusty melon, though I’ve spent the morning relocating the office knickknack shelf, so maybe I’m just smelling the dust that’s all over me right now. Specifically canteloupe, or maybe honeydew. The melon, not the dust.

Tastes: … hmm. Not like much. Like soda water with a twist of melon in it. Also it tastes slightly metallic, which I guess may be why you don’t see metal bottles often. I’m okay with that personally — my grandmother’s tap water tastes like sucking on an iron nail, and I always sort of liked it.

So basically it tastes like fizzy water, with a hint of Robomelon. That’s pretty Japanese right there.

(Oh, and I poured a little in the cap to check — it’s plain ol’ clear, not bright green like in the picture on the bottle. I feel very slightly cheated.)