Thank goodness for genki drinks.

Japanese don't take their vitamins in pills the way Americans do. Here we have vitamin candy and health (genki) drinks.

For the past week or more I've been drinking a couple of "C 1000 Vitamin Lemon" drinks every day. The tiny, 140 ml bottle contains a bright yellow, sweet and salty, lemon flavoured vitamin mix with enough vitamin C to chase away the worst of colds. Only it hasn't been working in my case. I'm supplementing with hot toddies and a vaporiser.

Other genki drinks offer ginseng and special herbs for men, most have a ton of caffeine which is probably the real secret of their popularity.