00:00:00 John Daub: Greetings everybody. I'm here to introduce this. This is the newest addition to Coca-Cola Japan's Clear Revolution. Clearly, it's not any different than this, which was released 365 days ago, exactly on June 10th. Coca-Cola released this Clear Coca-Cola, and now they're releasing this with lime.

00:00:24 John Daub: Now, last year, a lot of people made this comment. It's Sprite. It's Sprite. Alright? And I gotta be honest with you, it sort of was. I'm gonna turn the camera around so you can get a clear look. It sort of was Sprite, but now that they put lime in it, this has gotta be like 100% Sprite, right? I mean, come on. Is Coca-Cola Japan trying to deceive us? I don't know. But this sort of tasted like Sprite. This has got it. We're gonna find this out today. First, we have to find a vending machine.

00:00:54 John Daub: We're now in the middle of Japan's rainy season, which means rain. Lots of it. So the weather is gonna be like this for the next five weeks. It started yesterday. That means every couple of minutes, I'm gonna go like this. It's hard to get it perfect. Let's find some Sprite, because we're gonna do a taste test, everybody. Literally just came out a few hours ago. Supermarket got it in.

00:01:32 John Daub: Alright, here's a vending machine over here. I'm pretty excited about this. Last year, I went to this vending machine, the exact same one. Kanae went to work, and 365 days ago, it was also raining. Oh, no. No, there's no Sprite here. Alright, I know another secret machine. Alright, come on. It's just up here. We have another Coca-Cola vending machine.

00:02:14 John Daub: Now, why does Japan continuously have this urge to make unusual drinks? I kind of went over this last time. Japan, Japanese companies need to continuously innovate if they want to be taken seriously in this market. Japan is the trendiest country in the world, meaning something is big today, probably won't be big next week or next month. Things come and things go. Stupid ideas are here today, and then they're gone tomorrow.

00:02:48 John Daub: I did not plan this well at all. There's no Sprite here. What? How can a Coca-Cola vending machine not have any Sprite? Alright, I'm looking inside this shop as well. There's no Sprite. What? Alright, I know there's another vending machine, so I'm gonna have to go in there and get one at 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven surely has Sprite, right? Surely they've got some Sprite.

00:03:23 John Daub: Basically Coca-Cola has to innovate, that means Pepsi has to innovate. Pepsi is Suntory here in Japan, and Suntory is known for beer and it's also known for beverages. Today this is all about the lime. I'm not going to open the bottle of Clear Coca-Cola that I have that I bought last year because I've been saving it. It's part of my Japanese drink archive. Yes, I have an archive of bottles because they come and go so fast. Each bottle is history. So last year there was the Clear Coke, this year is the Clear Lime Coke.

00:04:10 John Daub: So if you want to pick up a bottle, it's on sale from today for the rest of the summer. You won't see them in vending machines for another couple of weeks but supermarkets right now are the first to start to carry them. Oh, the rain is starting to come down a lot harder now. We're in search of Sprite. I should have planned this live stream a little bit better. I'm just getting over a cold. Hey, how you doing, Michael? Alright, here's a shortcut. We're going to go through here and go to a new 7-Eleven that just opened up on the corner.

00:04:48 John Daub: For those of you just tuning in, follow the Clear Lime Coca-Cola and we're going to see if this is the same as Sprite. If we take a left here. Alright, there it is, new 7-Eleven. I still don't see another Coca-Cola vending machine. This is bizarre. This is very bizarre.

00:05:34 John Daub: Let's go in, let's go into 7-Eleven and get this really quickly. Are you ready? I have to put this in my pocket. I don't want them to think I'm trying to shoplift or something like this. I just literally want to buy a Sprite and get out of here. Oh, the rain's coming down. Alright, I got enough for Sprite. Here we go. Let's do this quickly into 7-Eleven we go. Right, there's no Sprite. It's crazy. There's no Sprite. What? 7-Eleven didn't have any Sprite.

00:06:41 John Daub: Alright, we're gonna have to do this. I have a good memory of what Sprite tastes like. We should be just fine. I thought the entire world would have Sprite. Dear Sprite, you're not that popular in Japan.

00:06:54 John Daub: To make this a high class show, I brought a wine glass because we're going to see just how clear this is. And I've also bought the tripod. Ah, rainy season doesn't make anything very easy. Nevertheless the show must go on. I take picking up a very natural place surrounded by trees. Is this Sprite? That is the question. The answer is about to be uncorked.

00:07:29 John Daub: Alright, very good initial smell. It's not Sprite. It's Coca-Cola with a hint of citrus, probably lime. I don't want to corrupt it with my nose. Alright, I'm smelling the gas coming off of it. It's a lightly sweet Coca-Cola smell. Cheers.

00:08:18 John Daub: That's not Sprite. Interesting. That's not Sprite. I thought it would be like Sprite. It's not like Sprite. This is good. It's good. But alright, it's good. I gotta get the umbrella up because this is ridiculous.

00:08:42 John Daub: The problem with it is that it's still got that Coke acidic taste to it, you know the one that makes you go like this. It's got that to it but it's got the sweetness. It's not as... this one from last year was not as sweet. This one is a little bit sweeter. I don't know. The aftertaste is like it's got the bad aftertaste of Coca-Cola to me, the too sugary taste. People might like that though but it's not as light as this one. This one was a lot lighter and tasted more like Sprite. This one tastes like Coke with lime.

00:09:37 John Daub: So it's not Sprite. Sprite tastes like Sprite. It's got that lemon-lime taste that we just love. It's refreshing, slightly sweet. Wish they'd take it down a little bit with more of the just plain soda water but it's refreshing. This is Coca-Cola with lime but it's clear so it's a mind-blowing experience for those trying this for the first time. And if you didn't try the Clear Coke last year, you do have a chance now if you're in Japan to try the Clear Lime. It's different though. The Clear Coke was better in a way. I mean, this is good. If you like Coke, this is good. But the Clear Coke from last year was better because it wasn't as sweet. And it was a lighter taste, meaning in the summer when you're hot, you kind of want a refreshing just water with a little bit of sugar. This one has, it's a little bit too sweet for me.

00:10:22 John Daub: So there you go. That's the taste test. Ten minutes in. We still can't, we went to several vending machines and we couldn't find a Sprite. Absolutely ridiculous. But it didn't matter anyways because this is not Sprite. This is Coke. And it tasted like Coke. And that's the official results. Sorry to disappoint anybody who is looking for Sprite. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below because this is the worldwide uncorking of Clear Lime.

00:10:53 John Daub: Because 365 days ago, they released this one. And today they released the one on the left. You heard it here first, everybody. I'm just going to start to answer some of your questions now.

00:11:16 John Daub: So I started off with a uncorking of Clear Lime. And I'm going to end with talking about the rainy season and what's in store for the next five weeks in Japan because it's going to really stink. Oh my word, the rain is coming. The poor lady's got an umbrella problem. Oh man. People are getting blown away. Just like I am.

00:11:50 John Daub: This is, it says here, I drink Coke Zero in my vodka and it tastes pretty nice. I don't know. I don't drink alcohol before 5 p.m. I can tell you that this cost me 99 yen or 100 yen, which is about a dollar from a supermarket, 160 yen from a vending machine. So it's going to be more expensive from the vending machines. But if you do find it, just pick one up and try it.

00:12:18 John Daub: I think it's something, that's why Japan does this because Japanese love to just try it. Try it once and then say, hmm, that brand, it changed up the brand. Let's try the new flavor. Ah, it's not too good. And then they'll pick up a couple of bottles of the regular stuff and it just gives people a way to remind them that this brand still exists. You know what I mean? It's all rainwater now. The rainy season is going to be here for the next five weeks. It started officially yesterday and the weather basically, the next five days is this. Rain, wind. I can't even hold the gimbal.

00:13:04 John Daub: This is the Tsukishima Station area. I live not too far away from here. It's a nice area to walk around in. Just not today. Rainy season comes gradually up Japan. It hit Kyushu a couple of weeks ago and it's moved up towards Tokyo yesterday and it'll be moving north to Tohoku next in a couple of weeks and then Hokkaido eventually, I think around the middle of July, it'll start to come down there and then August is going to be absolutely beautiful. Hokkaido doesn't really get much of a rainy season. Rainy season we call in Japanese tsuyu (梅雨，rainy season). T-S-U-Y-U.

00:13:49 John Daub: It's not that much fun. But it is interesting because the flowers need the rain. The trees need the rain. I don't know why they need this much of it. If you do come to Japan in June, like right now, typically the rainy season will start around the 10th of June and go on till the last week of July. Like the 23rd of July it will end. And then if it after then, it'll still rain but not the same. It'll be more like tropical showers. It's just the way that the monsoon winds are. The winds are coming this way for the next five weeks. So yeah, not much to be happy about.

00:14:34 John Daub: If you're visiting Japan, a lot of people are going to be like, wait a second, I didn't know about this. You should have. Because this happens every year. This happens every year. There's nothing surprising about tsuyu. The good thing is that it does make the green... check it out. It does make the green a little bit more green. Don't you think?

00:15:05 John Daub: I'm actually looking for Sprite as I walk through this neighborhood. See any vending machines? It's really coming down now. Alright, let's go through this alley because I can see how bad this signal is. Poor bicycle. I don't see any vending machines.

00:16:23 John Daub: Oh, this is where I did the live stream. I love the alleys, by the way. I don't know how much longer these are going to be here, but the alleys of Tsukishima, the Tsukuda neighborhood are absolutely beautiful. And all of these houses are row houses called nagaya (長屋，row houses). And if you do come to this neighborhood, you're going to find some of the history of Tokyo preserved in these old wooden row house buildings. I love them. There's just a lot of personality in Tokyo's neighborhoods that you can find.

00:17:07 John Daub: This is where I talked about my wedding a week after getting married. The ring, I think we called it. It's just right down there. That's nice to walk around the neighborhood again. I don't see any vending machines. Oh, it's a fishmonger. Okay, there's a vending machine up there. We're going to give it one more shot at this. And then I got to get indoors. I'm still editing a video for the main channel.

00:17:45 John Daub: Alright, there it is. You see a vending machine on the corner. Please give us some Sprite. Small one. No, there's no Sprite. There's a shot of Pepsi though. No Sprite though. For those of you enjoying the sound of the pitter patter on the umbrella, I do like it too. Just be glad that you're not the one getting drenched. The gimbal's having issues because it's not wet. There's one more vending machine we can try. None of these are Coke vending machines, so I don't think we're going to strike gold.

00:18:34 John Daub: Oh, oh, oh, wait. What is that green one? What is that green one above the Coca-Cola on the left side for 100 yen? I thought that was Sprite. It's not. It's green tea. How dare you trick me? You look so much like Sprite. It should be illegal. I love this. These are pretty hard drinks. They're pretty sweet. They're interesting if you ever get a chance to try them. Try things that you've never heard of. Sometimes the tastes are so off the wall.

00:19:12 John Daub: There you go, everybody. I tried my best to find the Sprite. What did we learn? We learned that Coca-Cola lime is like Coke with lime in it. It's a little bit sweeter than Coke Clear from last year. I guess they fixed the issue where Coke Clear didn't taste enough like Coke. Now Coke Clear tastes like Coke. And it does taste like a dash of lime, but it's a little bit too chemical for me, I think. I preferred it when Coke had real sugar in it and not this corn syrup that they use every day in every bottle now.

00:19:55 John Daub: And we also learned that Sprite is not popular in Japan. Sprite is not even 7-Up. Wait, is 7-Up here? Do you see any 7-Up? I know. What about 7-Up? I was thinking the same thing. I think they would be in Suntory machines. I don't see any 7-Up. Oh, man. Sorry. That stinks.

00:20:32 John Daub: Oh, wait, there's one more vending machine near the P. Live streaming in the rain is not that easy. Now I know why Kanae didn't want to do it. Nah, nothing good. Sparkling water. Boss coffee. Although hot coffee would sound good. Oh, wait! There might be a... I remember passing a machine this way. The gimbal's swaying to the left. I don't know why.

00:21:23 John Daub: Alright, guys. We're unfortunately not going to be able to find this Sprite. If you have any questions about this, I'm probably going to cut all this secondary stuff out. But if you do have any questions, leave it in the comments below. And I'm happy to answer your questions about this. And I don't think this... This is probably going to have a couple days off from live streaming. I'll be back maybe on Wednesday or Thursday, Japan time. Because I'm going to finish up a set of Only in Japan main channel episodes.

00:21:57 John Daub: Oh! And one more thing. I'm going now to Shinjuku. I'm going to Shinjuku to send the Postcard Club postcards. This month's Patreon postcards is the Shinjuku Skyline. Alright? It's really cool. And I wanted to send them from Shinjuku's post office. So the stamp canceling this... The stamp from the post office canceling the Japanese stamp will say Shinjuku on it in English. So I thought that was going to be pretty cool.

00:22:22 John Daub: If you want to get an Only in Japan postcard, do it in the next 30 minutes. Because I will literally put it in the mail today. And you'll get a Shinjuku stamp on it. If you don't do it before then, you're going to get like a Tokyo Station stamp on it. Which isn't bad. But it's a lot cooler when it says Shinjuku on it. So I'm going to send the postcards to Shinjuku. You can only do it in the Patreon postcard club.

00:22:45 John Daub: Alright guys. See you. Have a good day. Good night. Last 30 seconds is just looking at the rain down this street. Okay? Enjoy the rain as it pitter patters. Because Japan's going to look like this for the next five weeks. And hit the like button. Yeah. Thanks for promoting the Discord server, Nosh. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Katayama.