Today I went to the convenience store to grab one of those pre-made microwavable bento lunches. After choosing a “hamburg” lunch, which is a Salsbury steak with rice and other side items, I browsed the drink aisle to see what interested me. American-style soft drinks are adequately represented in Japan, of course, from Coca-Cola to Pepsi NEX! to the new Metal Gear Solid Mountain Dew. The market for bottled tea is somewhat larger, and I counted a dozen or more varieties from green tea to oolong to jasmine and Kirin’s British-style “Afternoon Tea.” Japanese are very health-conscious, and I saw several interesting products such as Kagome’s “One Day Vegetable Juice” (all the veggies you need in juice form) and a large selection of Yakult-style yogurt drinks to keep your insides clean. Nearby I saw a package for konnyaku, which is a firm gelatinous food made from boiled yams that’s used in many traditional Japanese dishes, and sold in fruit-flavored packets you can pop into your mouth. (It’s called Konjac or Devil’s Tongue in English, although I’ve never met anyone outide Japan who know what it was.) It’s considered a very healthy food, but for one problem: it’s so firm that children and the elderly can choke to death while eating it, so they put a big warning label on the package.
Konnyaku is a firm food that can be dangerous to eat.
