Super Terrific Japanese Thing: Kodomo No Nomimono

As you might have gathered from reading Topless Robot, I occasionally enjoy a drink or nine. It’s probably why I’ve featured things like Diet Beer and Beer for Dogs here on Super Terrific Japanese Thing on quite a few occasions. Now, the king of all weird Japanese beers is Kodomo no Nomimono, which is essentially “beer for kids.” It’s basically an alcohol-free soft drink that tastes beer-like, to get Japanese kids in the habit of drinking.

Now, Kodomo no Nomimono has been around for several years, which is why I never thought of putting it on S.T.J.T…until today, when gentleman, scholar and TR reader Patrick sent me a commercial for it.

There’s something about that table full of kids, with their little glasses full of beer-like beverage complete with tiny heads, yelling “kampai” to each other that is so heinously wrong that it comes out the other side and is awesomely right. Incidentally, I’ve actually had Kodomo, and it’s quite tasty. It doesn’t exactly taste like beer, but it certainly tastes beer-like?kind of like how grape soda tastes like grape flavor, and not real grapes. If you’re a small child who wants to get a head start on a crippling addicition to alcohol, I can’t recommend it enough.