Coffee, coffee everywhere

D1000004 (Small)
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

I've been enjoying the abundance of coffee products over here; it's possible, should you so desire, to get a can of iced latte at any time of the day or night for the princely sum of ¥120 (about 60p). You can get both hot and cold drinks from vending machines, but the catch is that they are, as a rule, bloody awful. There are a couple of exceptions, however - there's a black coffee called simply 'Drink It Black', which is ok, and a couple of others (for anyone who's seen my flickr photos- no, 'wonderful body' doesn't taste good).

The problem is, having worked in a coffee bar for a fair old while (props to the MZ massive both past and (in the main) present), so I got used to being able to get a really good coffee pretty much every time, and the price was right too *wink. Now though, it's harder to find; mainly 'cos the milk is different - i'm not sure how, but it's a lot richer here. That's not to say that there's nothing about - there's a nice coffee bar around the corner, but when it comes down to it (and I never thought I'd say it), sometimes I'd quite fancy a MZ latte... maybe in a couple of years.

Anyway, on the subject of missing things, there are a couple of things that I just can't seem to get over here:

• Wrigley's Extra Gum
  
  There are literally hundreds of different gum brands over here - you can buy it everywhere, but IT ALL TASTES LIKE CRAP. You can get Cherry Mint, Lemon Mint, Blueberry Mint, Menthol Mint (which tastes like cheese) and bloody Lychee gum, but no mint. Just mint.
  
• Cheese
  
  There's no shortage of cheese here - you can get all sorts of processed, soft, smoked, tubular and the like, but it's almost all synthetitic. I think i saw some brie the other day, but it's ¥600 (3 quid) for a piece that would normally cost about 80p back home. Sometimes I dream about stilton - interestingly the idea of blue cheese is always the one that makes the Japanese students cringe when it crops up in lessons.
  
• Shoes That Fit
  
  I'm only a size 11 (US12), which is not exactly monstrous, but over here it's crazy. Not a chance of buying any here, so I'm resorting to the wonders of the interweb. Laahvley.
  
  
  Oop, i'll be late for work if i don't get going...