Coris SonoManma Peach Fuzen Gum and Kanro Fruit Rich Peach Candy

The peach on the bottom candy reminds me of "Call Me By Your Name." If you haven't seen it, don't ask. The defilement of fruit is just too disturbing to relive.

Like a runner struggling after a long, hard run to reach the finish line, I am slowing down on my progress with my ZenPop box, but I am determined to finish! However, I'm being slowed down by plans to take a very brief trip for vacation and the looming specter of grand jury duty. If I seem to be in a hurry, you'll understand why.

The pairings on my double reviews are not random. They make a sort of pointless logic to my mind. This one is a grouping of "stuff designed to keep your mouth entertained for a long time" or "stuff designed to remove bad tastes from your mouth." Choose whichever one seems more suitable.

The maker of the peach gum, Coris, specializes in dagashi (kid's snacks) and I've only reviewed a few of their items previously. If this gum is any indication, they are designed to be short-lived joys. The immediate sense is that this is the nicest, softests bubble gum I have ever had and it has a good, natural burst of peach flavor both from the gum itself and the little dab of goo in the center.

For about three minutes, this is a great chewing experience. After that, the flavor is tapped out and you're done. At that point it's time for another little ball of (peach-shaped) gum, or to focus on blowing bubbles. I can't say it's reasonable to expect a gum designed for kids to go the distance in flavor, but I never claimed to be reasonable.

Kanro's "Fruit Rich" peach candy is a decidely more adult and long-lasting experience. The candy is less sweet and intense than the gum, but it unfolds beautifully on the tongue and it's far easier to enjoy than sucking on a peach pit. Oddly, this includes herb extracts and menthol, but I couldn't taste those elements at all. Their inclusion means this is designed for soothing sore throats as much as for occupying a bored mouth.

If this were sugar-free, it would have my undying love rather than a brief flirtation. My teeth cannot only tolerate so much bathing in sugar before they cry "Uncle." So, while I'm happy for the lack of artificial sweetner aftertaste (or even present taste), I have to be careful not to overdo this lest I develop a cavity.

Coris Peach Gum:

Karno Fruit Rich hard candy:

Lotte Zeus Gum (product info.)

Gum has to be one of the hardest products to market. The utility of gum is that it freshens breath, cleans teeth, or gives various ways for those with unremitting oral fixations to exercise them without resorting to things like eating, smoking, or sucking their thumbs. It's not the least bit sexy to market gum as "adult pacifiers", though I guess you could try to hook them in with it being an incredibly disgusting art supply.

Lotte has an angle which caters to the need to feel that we have more power by virtue of emulating a cow in a field working its cud. They have re-released a line of gum (repackaged and enhanced flavors) named "Zeus" so you can believe yourself not only to be a god, but the big daddy of all of the gods. To further enhance your sense of empowerment, they have given them appropriate names that will make you feel like stuffing a stick in your mouth and masticating it will give you the power to smite your enemies. The names of them are "thunder spark", "aurora curtain", "snow storm" and "rain shower."

One has to wonder how each of the flavors was assigned. After all, what does an aurora taste like? Will the "thunder spark" shock your tongue? Frankly, "rain shower" sounds downright boring next to the other options. Part of what makes this gum unique is that they are layering it and putting an "accent" flavor in the middle. In "rain shower", for example, there is a green tea "accent" sandwiched between peppermint "base" flavors. When you explain it as "green tea and peppermint", it sounds a lot less exhilarating than calling it "rain shower". The "aurora" is essentially your basic juicy fruit rather than norther lights on your tongue. Lotte has gone to so much effort to make these sound like more than they are, and I've just gone and spoiled half of the party for everyone.

The spokesman for the gum is Dai Tamesue, who is apparently a well-known athlete in Japan. The fact that I had never heard of him befroe in no way reflects on his lack of international notoriety. The truth is that I don't know any famous American athletes either. Every time I play Trivial Pursuit with my husband, I answer any sports question, regardless of the involved sport, with the same reply because I only know one famous guy, Pete Rose. The question could be, what famous Japanese karate champion was caught spooning a Shetland pony and committed seppuku in disgrace and I'd still answer, "Pete Rose." I'm just not that into sports, though if that actually had happened, I might find myself more interested in the private lives of those who practice karate.

The commercial shows Dai running through the street as the elements for each flavor of gum flash over his head. He's a runner or hurdle jumper or some such so, you know, he has to be showing us his stuff in the commercial. Of course, the whole image of an athlete would work better if he wasn't wearing a suit and tie while he was fleeing the nightmarish changes in the meteorological circumstances. Also, he's not chewing gum while he runs despite cramming some into his mouth before he starts.

The advertising for this line promises that they will 'evoke new emotions'. I have to admit that, though I've had some gum in my time, I've never found it to be a particularly emotional experience. Honestly, I also believe that, if you're turning to gum to make you feel something, it might be time to have your medication changed.

Those who are so excited by the concept of this gum and it's packaging that they would like to plaster pictures of it on their desktop can find some wallpapers here. I know you'll all be rushing to download right this very moment.

Ramune candy and kid's gum (round stuff)

This post is a review of three items that are unified in two ways. All of them are round and I got them all as part of the Sakura Box monthly candy box. Note for my readers, November is KitKat month and they're offering 5 unique KitKat flavors. I mention that not because they sent me free candy (though they did), but because I know many people are especially interested in Japanese KitKats.

This is part of the selection I received in the October candy box and these are the types of small things that are very common in the kid's snacks section in Japanese markets. I am familiar with all of these things, and I once had the little boxes of gum with fruit illustrations on them, but it was so long ago that my aging brain lost the memory. Well, it's either my age or the fact that one isn't exactly stowing away such memories as if they were precious and not to be forgotten. It is, after all, only bubble gum.

Marukawa Fusen gum (upper right in the picture) is one that I saw around for pretty much the duration of my 23 years in Japan. It was often sold in multi-packs that included all available flavors, but also as individual packs of one flavor. I also often saw enormous tubs of it as prizes in UFO Catcher machines. I'm not sure who would want such a huge amount of these little pellet-shaped bits of gum, but I guess someone out there really loves it, especially little kids.

 See? It is all round stuff!

The orange tastes a lot like Bayer's orange baby aspirin in the U.S., except with a bit more tartness and sweetness. The grape is your typical grape gum flavor. The melon is probably the weirdest one because it tastes strongly of quite sweet cantaloupe in the initial burst of flavor. In fact, it's rather too strong and my taste buds rebelled at first.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, all flavors of this gum have a very short half life on the flavor front. Within 5 minutes, pretty much all of the flavor is gone and you're left with some pleasantly soft and pliable bubble gum and a generic sweetness. Incidentally, I chewed all 4 little gum balls (each is about the size of a large pea) at once. I can't imagine that anyone would chew one at a time. As bubble gum goes, this is fine. It's nothing spectacular, but if you were a kid and wanted to stuff your maw full of a big wet blob of it and blow a bubble that would explode all over your face, this would do the trick.

The "tsuppai (sour) lemon" gum, which contains three larger gum balls but the wrapper said it was only 2 servings, is made by a company called "Meiji Gum". I should note that both Marukawa and Mei specialize in gum, which seems like an odd choice, but I guess it's what a lot of companies do in America as well. You just never think about someone saying to himself (it's usually a "him"), I think I'll start a chewing gum company. In the case of Marukawa, that was said in 1888, apparently. That's some forward thinking.

As promised, this is sour lemon gum. In fact, it was a bit too intense for me and I had to spit it out after a short chew. That doesn't mean it's bad. It just means I'm a sourness wuss, or that it didn't go over too great after chewing the sweet tiny little gum balls.

I give both types of gum an indifferent rating because they are pretty much just kid's gum in approachable flavors. The main benefit of them is that they have a good texture and carry an intense candy-like burst of flavor at the start. The main drawback is that the flavor doesn't last long and that once it drains away, you're left with sweetness (or sourness) and not much more.

 Finally, I tried the ramune candy which comes in the plastic blue-green soda bottle in the upper left of the picture at the top of this review. It is made by confectionery powerhouse, Morinaga. If you don't realize it, they're the folks that are delivering HiChew to the world. These are pressed powder candies like SweeTarts, but they are looser and softer than those American sweets. If you bite down on them, they quickly dissolve into a soft blobby bit in your mouth. If you let them dissolve on your tongue, they yield slowly and release the flavor of bubble gum. They're sweet, but not overbearingly so and have a fresh flavor which is hard to pin down.

I actually like powdered candies like this more than the average adult. I'm not sure that I'd keep a stash around the house, but when I happen to buy one or are given one, I enjoy them more than I might expect and that was certainly so with this ramune candy. 

Lotte Eve Gum

Due to growing up in the 70's and being exposed to a lot of advertising for feminine hygiene products, I associate any product using the word "Eve" with the sorts of problems only women have. In fact, anything with the word "Eve" in it in the U.S. is going to address problems, as one of my friends so colorfully put it, "down there." Even in Japan, there is/was a type of pain killer that was equivalent to Midol (a pain reliever for "that time of the month") called "Eve", so the U.S. isn't the only country making that connection.

With that in mind, I couldn't resist sampling this ladies gum, though I sincerely hoped it wasn't going to resemble a disposable feminine cleansing solution or pain medication. Lotte's web site says that this gum is supposed to remind you of flowers. I guess that anything with pretty posies attached to it is by default for women. "Flowers" apparently taste a bit like weak juicy fruit mixed with  a hint of perfume if this gum is any indication.

One of the problems with gum is that it is ultimately, just gum. No matter how cool the naming convention, it's not going to send you over the moon on the flavor front. That being said, I'm always looking for good gum. The problem with Lotte's gum (all of it) is that, even when it tastes good, the flavor never lasts for long. This gum was pleasantly sweet and slightly floral, but the taste died in no time at all.

The only gum I've had in Japan which had long-lasting flavor has been Clorets. I've had a lot of Japanese gum which tasted great, but I find myself essentially doing jaw exercises with a soggy wad of nothing in no time at all. This gum was no different than most in that regard, unfortunately.

Lotte Frutio Gum

I've written before that I'm not a big consumer of gum, but that has since changed. I'm not sure why, but now I find myself subscribing to "Chewing Magazine" and wanting to walk around my neighborhood like a well-mannered cow working its cud. This image can be further enhanced by the fact that chewing sugar-free gum (especially that made with Xylitol) has some unfortunate side effects that may contribute to global warming. I realize that may provide an insanely sexy image for some of my male readers, but I hope the fact that I'm 46 will keep your hormones in check.

You'll note that at the top of the plastic canister with this gum, it says "Plus X". That isn't some secret ingredient. It's the flatulence-inducing Xylitol which is supposed to be good for teeth. We may all be going around leaving smelly vapor trails, but we won't have any cavities!

You can buy Frutio gum pretty much anywhere in Japan, though these larger plastic versions are usually only at supermarkets and snack shops. In convenience stores, you can generally get packs of individual flavors. I won't buy these plastic micro-buckets unless they're deeply discounted to about 399 yen ($4.76) or less. I got this one at Okashi no Machioka snack shop for that price, but I see these at markets for around 600 yen ($7.16) quite often.

There are three flavors and a pad of Post-it notepaper in the canister. The paper is to put your chewed gum in so that it won't stick to someone's shoe or the side of your trash can. The flavors are juicy lemon, juicy grape and juicy apple. Each has a nice candy shell surrounding its gum interior and all are so small that you'll likely need two pieces to feel you've got enough to work with.

The apple is the  most artificial tasting of the bunch, as is so commonly the case with green apple flavors. It's not bad, but definitely my least favorite. The lemon is the nicest with a good strong tang and somewhat authentic lemon flavor. The grape is pretty standard fake grape, but I liked it. The flavor lasted about 10 minutes tops on each of these, but that still puts them a cut above a lot of the gum in Japan.

The thing which makes me like Frutio (and I've bought it at least 3 times already) is that it isn't a mix of "mint" and fruit which is so often the case in Japan. The flavors are pure (fake) fruit rather than something which resembles toothpaste spread on a slice of fruit. Clearly, I'll buy this again, but only if it is on sale.

Bourbon Cubyrop Gum

The Japanese are famous for taking something successful and improving upon it. It's nice to know that they are also capable of taking something successful and making it lame. This gum, made by confectioner Bourbon, is based on the "Cube" series by Lotte, which I reviewed favorably before. I think that the name might be a fusion of "cube" and "drop", but I have no idea what it really means. A lot of the English names of products mean nothing and foreigners who try to make sense of them are looking for meaning where none actually exists.

I picked up this sugar-free gum because it is a big container of gum that looks like "Cube" brand for a lower price. It was on sale for 399 yen ($4.74) at Okashi no Machioka discount sweets shop. That may sound expensive for 85 grams (3 oz.) of sugar-free gum, but it is cheaper than similar containers.

Strawberry: Weak, slightly tangy and too sweet. It seems to get sweeter as you chew it more until all of the flavor leeches out. 

Grapefruit: This has a nice grapefruit flavor, but like the strawberry is too sweet and the flavor diminishes pretty quickly.

Grape: This is the sweetest, and has a lot of the same flavor of the type of purple lollipop you used to fight with your sister or brother over when

Green Apple: Unsurprisingly, this has the same fake green apple flavoring that you get in most candies. It's fine, and even has a bit of the real feel of an actual apple once the initial burst of stronger flavor wears down a bit.

Comparing this to the product it clearly is ripping off made sure this ended up looking worse than it might. The outside of the "Cube" brand gum is kind of crispy and feels a little candy-coated. This is just gum in a cubic shape. That doesn't make it bad. It's just not "good", particularly since the flavor isn't' especially intense and tends to fade fast.

As gum goes, this is just "okay" but I wouldn't buy it again unless it was super, super cheap (300 yen or less). I'd rather just buy real "Cube" gum with all of its textural qualities and stronger flavors. Since the cubes are small, the best way to have this is to chew on 2 or 3 different flavors at once. You get a second-rate Juicy Fruit gum experience that way, and that's about as good as it's going to get.

Lotte Black Black

If you don't live in Japan and follow blogs like this one or shop from Asian importers, it may seem as if there are a lot of interesting options just waiting to be sampled when it comes to foods and snacks and that you can get to all of them given enough time. When you get here, it becomes a bit more complex because there is so much around you that it is hard to pick and choose. It's not just that there is a new KitKat every other day, but also that you're competing with traditional sweets shops selling things like bean cakes and rice crackers, and fresh snacks made in stalls (like taiyaki).

Black Black is one of those things which has been on my radar for two decades, but I never tried it. It's a classic offering, and that probably is one of the reasons why I've ignored it for so long. It's not like it's going to stop being carried and vanish. Unlike many of the all too common seasonal or limited edition items, Black Black isn't going anywhere.

The funny thing is that I always assumed that Black Black was licorice gum, because, well, it is black. There are few sweets back home that are black and not made of licorice. The truth is that licorice is not a common flavor in Japan. In fact, I only ever see it as an imported food and my husband offered some licorice twists (Twizzlers) to students and they were decidedly so-so on it. I've read that the plant that licorice is derived from is part of traditional herbal medicine ("kampo") in Japan. It could be that the flavor is associated with illnesses rather than treats.

As soon as I broke the seal on my pack of Black Black, I knew this was no licorice gum. A very strong mint flavor wafts out of the pack. The flavor is intensely spearmint and it was actively unpleasant for me during the first 3 minutes of chewing and remained almost bitter for over 7 minutes of chewing. It is one potent chew.

The main draw of Black Black may or may not be the intense flavor and long-lasting nature of the minty chew, but I'm guessing part of what keeps it selling is the inclusion of caffeine. The Japanese are pretty nuts for caffeine-spiked stimulants, and this seems like it's just another delivery system for the third most popular legal drug of choice in Japan. For the record, alcohol is the most popular one, and nicotine is the second.

Frankly, I thought this was disgusting. It was too intense and tasted like chemicals. I couldn't believe that the flavor became bitter as time went by rather than simply mellowing out. I chewed it for about 10 minutes because I felt I should give it a chance. I wouldn't buy this again and have no expectation that I'll chew even a second stick. Besides the fact that it tastes gross to me, it contains sugar (though is only 8 calories per stick) and I don't like the idea of chewing on something saturated with sugar. Oddly, it also has Erythritol, Aspartame, and L-Phenylalanine in addition to sugar so it's also spiked with artificial sweeteners. I guess there's something to object to for everyone in this gum.

This was just "bleecch". I can't imagine anyone would chew this gum for any purpose other than to extract a stimulant from it or to wipe out a case of absolutely lethal halitosis (which I don't suffer from, fortunately). I'm sure Black Black has its fans. I'm just never going to be one of them.

Meiji Sweets Gum Blueberry Cheesecake

There's an episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes into the Kwiki Mart and asks Apu if he has a new beer which has brew with Skittles candy floating around in it called "Skittle Brau". Of course, no such product exists, but Homer is not dissuaded. He gets a 6-pack and a bag of Skittles and makes his own candy/beer combo.

This scene comes to mind because this Meiji Sweets Gum is a mixture of gum and candy. I didn't realize that it was literally a "sweet" plus "gum". I thought it was just going to be blueberry cheesecake-flavored gum. I guess someone was thinking that gum would be better with a blob of chewy candy in the center.

I picked this up at Inageya supermarket for about 100 yen ($1.07). They also had double caramel and strawberry vanilla on offer, but I'm a sucker for cheesecake. There are 7 pieces of gum in the box, and it's 51 calories for the whole box. Unlike many types of gum in Japan, this isn't sugar-free. It is made with "sugar water", though it also includes Maltitol and other artificial sweeteners.

The cheesecake portion of this is the off-white candy in the middle and the blueberry the gum casing. The first bite has intense blueberry flavor and the cheesecake candy center follows a bit sluggishly behind. The tastes are intense and pretty good at first. The main problem is that the flavor lasts for a maximum of two minutes and dies very rapidly. The gum is soft and fine, but soon it's just jaw exercise. Clearly, this isn't made for long-term chewing. In fact, I'm not sure why this has been rolled out in gum form at all. It would seem more effective to make this a chewy candy through and through.

If this were a hard candy or chewy candy, I'd probably consider buying it again, but as gum, it's not flavorful enough for a long enough period of time. While I was happy to chew this for a few minutes and I liked the taste, I wouldn't buy it again because of the long-term flavor shortcomings.

Random Weekend Picture 9

These pictures of store displays may seem pretty bland to you, but it's actually tricky for me to get the pictures as there are signs up telling customers that they are not allowed to take photos in nearly ever store in Japan. That's right, I risk being busted for my art.

The Xylish gum on the left caught my eye because of the use of the word "Oriental" in it. In America, we don't say "Oriental" anymore because it's considered somewhat racist. We are only allowed to say "Asian".

This type of gum packaging irritates me on two levels. First of all, they are quite expensive. On the right, the "Cola" gum is $7.50 (U.S.) for 100 grams (3.5 oz.). The packages aren't even that big. I can't say how many packs of gum you'd need to buy to get an equivalent amount, but I think that these do not represent economies of scale. Some types of gum are only sold in this way in order to encourage people to spend more for a pretty pedestrian bit of food entertainment. Second, the plastic packaging is very wasteful and requires more energy to produce and recycle. Chances are you will never see me review gum sold in this fashion.

Smart Time Mild Chocolate Gum

There are two flavors which I've always found disappointing when they are used outside of their "proper" place. The first is cola. You can make lollipops, fizzy candies, etc. with cola flavor, but it's always flat and weird. Cola belongs in a carbonated beverage. The other flavor that is hard to transfer to unconventional places is chocolate, though it is certainly more flexible than cola.

When I bought this Smart Time Mild Chocolate gum, I was aware that I was flirting with potential disappointment. Chocolate isn't one of those things which tends to come across well in gum. Part of the reason for this is that gum has no fat, and chocolate foods usually have it. Part of the reason is that the texture of gum seems to exist in discord with the harmony of chocolate as a flavor, at least in my flavor world (of which I am the high queen as it's my blog and I'll rule if I want to).

The "Smart Time" line of gum, which is marketed under the Recaldent brand and made by Cadbury, is primarily designed to get women to chew gum rather than snack. That's why it's called "smart time". Smart women chew 3-calorie nibblets of gum rather than give in to the temptation to tuck into a drawer full of sweets. The liquid center is meant to offer the consumer a burst of satisfying flavor.


I found this gum for about 70 yen (78 cents) at Okashi no Machioka. Usually, a 9-piece pack of this gum is 100 yen ($1.11), so part of what made me decide to roll the dice was that I could sample on the cheap. Also, I've been chewing more gum lately as a way of eating less, and perhaps I can fool myself into thinking this 3.6 calorie per morsel gum is going to satisfy a chocolate craving.

The gum smells vaguely chocolate-like, and the first bite is a muted chocolate flavor mixed with coconut. Though there is no coconut in the gum according to the ingredients list, there is something called "butter oil" and that might be similar. It also contains cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and the artificial sweetener, Maltitol. The flavor is not quite what one would hope for if one were expecting a nice chocolate and the texture of gum after the burst of cocoa flavor feels disconcerting, but this is fairly good gum albeit a bit sweet.

If I was in need of some gum, this would certainly be a possible purchase for me in the future. That being said, this reminds me vaguely of a type of diet candy that my mother bought when I was a kid. This candy was little caramel-like blobs that women were supposed to eat to help suppress their appetite and tasted sweet, but a bit weird. This gum is a lot like that. It doesn't make it bad, just quite different.

The web site for Recaldent and Smart Time gum has an online coloring book where kids can color in the animated tooth mascot for these sugarless gums, Hamii-kun. If you have kids, or miss spending days with a box of Crayolas, it's here.

Lotte Glamatic Cassis Gum

I've seen "Glamatic" brand gum around for quite some time and have actively avoided it. The packaging is super sparkly and the writing is stylized in a fashion that makes it clear that Lotte is trying to attract 12-year-old girls, or those who think like them. I figure anything that is trying so hard to show style carries a high risk of lacking substance.

As I've mentioned before, sometimes I like to have gum on hand for throat moistening purposes. There's nothing that gets the old saliva going like gum. That being said, I still don't like to chew gum. It makes me feel like a cow chewing its minty-flavored cud.

Lotte mustn't think much of this gum because it's buried in the list of "other gums" on their gum page. I guess it isn't getting the push that Fit's is in terms of promotional potential. Given my bad impression of Fit's, I can't say I believe Lotte has it's priorities straight.


I chose this gum mainly because it is flavored "cassis" (essentially, a grape-like berry) without the addition of mint. I'm not a fan of the fruit plus mint flavors that dominant the chewing gum sections in Japan and it was slim pickings. So, I had to buy the frilly girly gum for prepubescent girls and look like a pathetic 45 year old who doesn't know her age.

A pack of 14 pieces about the size of a Chiclet or Dentyne gum costs 100 yen ($1.10). The gum is sugarless, which is important to me because I care about my teeth. It's made with both Maltitol and Aspartame. It smells a bit perfume-like at first, and tastes a bit like it as well. One of the slogans for the gum is something like "a makeover for your breath". I think it's supposed to make you think you'll smell pleasantly of perfume. After that first hit passes it has a pretty pleasant grape flavor which is relatively short-lived. I'd say it holds its flavor for a maximum of 10 minutes.

This is actually pretty decent gum. The grape flavor is not a kid's flavor, but actually similar to cassis. The shell is crisp and the gum inside is soft and easy to chew. I'd definitely buy this gum again if I was sick of sucking on herbal throat drops and wanted to chew gum to keep my throat from getting dry, even if it does look like I'm outside of the market for it by at least 2 decades.

Fit's Citrus Mix Gum

If there were ever proof that gum is a boring product and almost all of the limited angles associated with marketing it have been played out, it is this gum. When I bought it, my motive was to get something other than throat lozenges to help combat my dry throat on days when I did a lot of teaching. When I looked inside, there was a whole other dimension to this product.


The gum actually comes with instructions for how to remove it from the box. I don't think I've ever needed to be told how to chew gum before. I'm guessing Lotte, which produces this gum, must feel that its consumers are especially dumb. They even give you illustrations.


The whole point of this gum chewing instruction sheet is to let you know that the complex process of removing the wrapper from the gum and placing it in your mouth has been made more convenient and simplified for you by the good folks at Lotte. When you grab a piece of gum from the box, the bottom half tears along a perforation and stays stuck in the box so you can raise the exposed gum to your mouth and shove it in. I'm surprised they don't include pictures of how to move your jaw so you can understand how to actually chew. I'm even more surprised that they don't have an illustration of a throat with a "no" illustration (circle with a line through it) to make sure you don't swallow it.

The gum itself is billed as having long-lasting flavor and it actually does retain diminished flavor for up to about a half hour. The intense flavor that comes at first lasts a far shorter time. It's not a very pleasant citrus blend though. The main element is grapefruit and lemon and it strongly tastes of artificial sweetener. Maltitol and Erythritol are the first two ingredients, after all. This keeps the entire box of 12 small pieces (the same size as Dentyne) down to 32 calories, but it's just not very good. I won't be buying this gum again. Well, I might buy it again if I ever suffer severe brain damage and forget how to unwrap gum and put it in my mouth.

If you'd like to download some desktop pictures of this gum's promotional pictures (an iPod style dancing silhouette), you can get them here.

Plus X Grape Mint Gum

In Japanese business, there's a concept called "plus alpha". This means that an additional service is added on to whatever the usual package of services is offered. I'll note for those who have not lived in Japan that "plus alpha" is said in English, not in the Japanese equivalent of those English words. So, most Japanese people know what "plus" means even if it is written in English.

This grape mint gum says "plus X" which makes it sound as if something extra has been added. Lotte's web site says that the branding using "plus X" is specifically targeted at young people as a way of making gum made with Xylitol (a sweetener which helps strengthen tooth enamel) seem "fun" and "cool". I guess they feel that the whole idea of gum that is good for your teeth is too square for the likes of Japanese young people so it's hipper to make it vague by saying "plus X". Of course, I'm not sure how "fun" you can make tiny pieces of gum.


Lotte also mentions that the price of this gum is set at 100 yen (about $1), though I'm not sure why that should be so special. A lot of individual packs of gum are in the same price range, though there are some pretty expensive big plastic canisters of gum for around 500-800 yen (about $5-$8). Each pack has 14 pieces and if you chew the whole thing, it's only 37 calories. The pieces are rather sloppily wrapped in textured foil which is too big for the size of the gum. Perhaps Lotte is recycling packaging from more generously proportioned gum or they like the look of a product swaddled in foil.


The gum is similar to Chiclets in the U.S. though they are perhaps a little bigger. The pieces have a candy coating and don't have any scent at all. When you bite into it, you're hit by a faint grape flavor then by a very odd mixture of mint and grape. The mint is stronger than the grape, though they do tend to mix into a bit of a funky combination for a short time until the flavor peters out. The grape dies off entirely after about a minute and you're left with an almost bitter mint flavor. The flavor doesn't last all that long and the piece size is so small that even a conservative gum chewer might need 3 pieces to satisfy herself.

I'm not a serious gum chewer, but if I were, I wouldn't buy this again. It's not only that grape and mint do not make a great pairing, but also that the flavor doesn't last long and the gum isn't especially a great chew. I can't understand why fruit gum in Japan seems to be often paired with mint since that's not a particularly tasty combination. It could be that gum is mainly used to freshen breath and mint is seen as necessary for doing the trick. At any rate, I wouldn't recommend this.

Clorets XP Original Mint

There is a lot of gum on the Japanese market and I've sampled a bit of it. On the whole, I'm not a big gum chewer as I value my teeth and I don't have bad breath. I know the latter is true because I occasionally verify this fact with my husband when I get paranoid.

A few years ago, a Xylitol craze started in Japan and a plethora of candies and gum were marketed loudly trumpeting the showcase ingredient. Xylitol is a sweetener which reduces plaque on teeth. The Clorets XP sugarless gum, of course, contains Xylitol in addition to a slew of other chemicals including aspartame and maltitol. Maltitol is an artificial sweetener renowned for its ability to move bowels. You don't want to chew too much gum or consume too much candy with it or you'll be enjoying some Ex-lax moments. Aspartame is sold in the U.S. as "Equal" sweetener and can cause headaches or other issues with some people. All in all, this gum is quite the cocktail of sweeteners and artificial ingredients.


This particular gum was being given away free around Shinjuku and my husband was handed a sample pack with two pieces. The center is your usual bit of chewy gum and the outside is a shiny candy shell. If you give it a hard sniff, you get a vague whiff of mint. If you bite into it, you get an overpowering and extremely medicine-like influx of spearmint flavor. For the first minute or so, it is extremely unpleasantly powerful on the tongue and the minty vapors go write up your nasal passages and flare into your nose.

After about a minute of chewing, it mellows out to a less nasty taste but is still very strong. It takes at least 20 minutes before the flavor noticably fades. One of the little pictures on the paper attached to the sample packet shows people saying it's "long lasting". This is definitely true. The flavor in this gum lasts much longer than any gum I've ever chewed in my life. I guess that the "benefit" of the overpowering start is that it lasts a long time.

This long-lasting flavor is supposedly the result of "flavor encapsulation". The leaflet with the sample says there is 2.5 times more mint flavor in this version of Clorets XP than the original version. This is a claim I actually believe after biting into a piece for the first time. The ad also mentions that there is a contest in which 30 gifts worth 2,000 yen each will be given away at various locations around Tokyo as part of the campaign. Oddly, it also recommends you visit YouTube and type in the word "Clorets" in Japanese (クロレッツ). Are Japanese people really likely to go look up a commercial on YouTube?

I would never buy this gum because it's all a bit too much for me and I'm no fan of spearmint or gum. However, if you can't brush your teeth or are worried about your breath after a spicy meal, this gum would definitely go a long way toward helping you not offend the people around you. I know there are several people I encounter regularly who I'd dearly love to encourage to use of this gum.