スターバックス ヴィア

I like coffee a lot.
Every morning I drink a cup of coffee and every evening a can (or two) of beer.

But I don’t like Starbucks.

In my opinion, what Starbucks sells isn’t coffee but overpriced hot cocoa. It’s too sweet and too expensive.

But I understand that Starbucks is popular (although I don’t understand why that is), so maybe you’ll be interested to know that 「スターバックス」 (Starbucks) in Japan has just begun selling 「スターバックス　ヴィア」 (“Starbucks Via“) coffee.

“Starbucks Via” is their new brand of instant coffee.

Packages of "Starbucks Via" in the U.S. have "X" marks on them.

I guess Starbucks in America has already been offering this new instant coffee, but in Japan Starbucks began selling it today.

There are a couple differences between the “Starbucks Via” offered in the U.S. and how it’s sold here in Japan.

First, in Japan, the packages are smaller because Japanese usually consume food and drinks in smaller portions than the average American.

And secondly, the packages that the coffee are sold in are different in Japan too.
In America (and maybe other countries as well), they have large “X” marks to indicate the type of coffee, but in Japan that symbol isn’t usually used in that way.
Usually Japanese people would put an “O” (circle) there…but Starbucks Japan elected to use a check mark…still better than an “X”.

Packages of 「スターバックス　ヴィア」 ("Starbucks Via") coffee in Japan have check marks on them.

I guess I’m not the only one who thinks Starbucks coffee is too expensive. Maybe they’re losing business and decided to sell cheaper coffee to try to compete with places like McDonalds.

In Japan, “Starbucks Via” in sold in sets of either three packets for ¥300 (¥100 / packet (about US$1.08 / packet)) or twelve packets for ¥1,000 (¥83 / packet (about US$0.89 / packet)).

Do you like Starbucks coffee? Have you tried “Starbucks Via“? How much is it in your country?

Foreign celebrities messages to Japan

Lady Gaga, the American singer arrived in Tokyo yesterday to promote a new album or perform a concert.

I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga. I’m not sure why she came here exactly. I wouldn’t have given her arrival here a second thought…until I saw what she did to her arm and purse.

Before her flight landed in Tokyo, Lady Gaga had someone (probably a Japanese passenger on the same flight) write on her arm and her white handbag (that was probably an expensive designer brand) in Japanese カタカナ (“katakana“) script.

And then she paraded through Japan’s Narita Airport showing off her bag with 「アイ　ラブ　スモール　モンスター　　東京ラブ」 (“I love small monster. Tokyo love“) written in black permanent marker on it, and her arm with 「アイ　ラブ　リトル　モンスター」 (“I love little monster“) written on it.

Whatever that’s supposed to mean!!

Many foreign celebrities come to Tokyo and show off tattoos, or T-shirts with Japanese writing.

“I love little monster” written on your arm or 「一番」 (“Number One“) on your T-shirt is just as ridiculous in Japanese in Japan as it is in English in a “western country”.

「一番」 ("Number one") T-shirt