Which drink will you have?

One of the cross-cultural challenges we have is in choosing drinks when we're out. Each country has their own standard carbonated drinks. Even a year in Australia wasn't long enough for our boys to completely get a handle on what was usually available and what it was called. So at restaurants, fast food counters and various other places where you have to choose, we ended up translating. Something like "do you want orange fizzy or ginger ale?"

However it was long enough for them to forget what is available in Japan. Now we're saying things like, "do you want lemon fizzy or grape?"

If you were confronted with this vending machine, what do you think you'd like? Sorry that I can't get the photo much bigger.

To help, I might say that the Mitsui Cider on the middle row at the right is like lemonade. In the middle at the bottom is something like Diet Solo (sorry non Aussies) and next to it is grape flavoured soft-drink. I think the one on the end is orange, but I'm not sure from the photo if it is carbonated or not. The brown bottle in the middle row is an energy drink aimed at men. I don't know what it contains.

Much of the ones on the top line are Calpis. This is Wikipedia's explanation of that Japanese drink:

Calpis (カルピス, Karupisu) is a Japanese uncarbonated soft drink, manufactured by Calpis Co., Ltd. The beverage has a light, somewhat milky, and slightly acidic flavor, similar to plain or vanilla-flavored yogurt or Yakult. Its ingredients include water, nonfat dry milk and lactic acid, and is produced by lactic acid fermentation.

 Really, you just have to try it to know!

Which brings me to the topic of vending machines. If we just stick to drink vending machines, you find them everywhere in Japan. I've counted at least six of them within a 300m radius of our house. And we don't live in a shopping precinct. Mostly just residential. However, vending machines is a topic that deserves its own post another time. I'll have to go collecting some more photos to show you the amazing variety that can be easily found here.