Off Into The Sunset

Just Something To Do

Energy Gym

  

I haven’t posted in a while, so that’s the only reason I’m posting now. Here’s the story: Back in the states, I used to be sort of a connoisseur of energy drinks. There, you could get 50 different brands of the stuff, mostly from America, but even from, like Latvia. When I visited Japan for the second time a couple of years ago, I came upon a beverage which called itself “Energy Gym”. I found this beverage kind of special. It seemed that it would give me its energy drink boost within, like 10 seconds of drinking it. This, I’m sure, has to be psychosomatic, because I can’t imagine it’s possible for a beverage to have this kind of effect. Anyway, when I had been visiting then, it had seemed like this stuff was all over the place, and that’s one of the things I was looking forward to when returning this time. To my dismay, however, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Gosh, perhaps it was just a Kanto thing. Well, it turns out that this wonder drink is indeed available in a few places here in the Tokai area. Those of you who are extremely observant might have noticed that I took a photo of Energy Gym during my Takayama trip. I was excited. I thought, “Wow, I can spend just a hundred bucks round trip and only an hour away is my favorite energy drink!” But, it turned out the situation was a lot better. About a month ago, while exploring random alleys with my bicycle, I found a vending machine only five minutes away from my home with Energy Gym!! I had found the motherlode. It was awesome. I went there, like, 2 or 3 times a week and picked up one of these magnificent drinks for just 120 yen. Just as suddenly as it occured, though, last weekend, I coasted down to the trusty vending machine adjacent to this Chinese restaurant (which I haven’t tried yet, by the way), and discovered that they had removed the vending machine! I was completely distraught! Now, as far as I knew, Takayama was my closest source of this magnificent elixir. As luck would have it, I happened to be riding by Meieki (aka Nagoya Station) that day. Randomly down some stupid alley, only because the pedestrian traffic around that place is godawful, and I came upon a Dydo machine with Energy Gym!! What a stroke of luck. And not only that, the next day, near one of my fellow foreign teachers’ house I found a second Nagoya jidouhanbaiki with Energy Gym. So everything is ok for now. Thanks for listening to my Energy Gym story. The above pictures are all from my keitai and are of: an Energy Gym from my local vending machine (which no longer exists), the vending machine by Meieki, and the vending machine by Steve’s house.