honmaya

Last month, I think I mentioned that Osaka is selling bottled tap water, well, I found a bottle at a convenience store in Osaka city when I went to French class yesterday. We live outside Osaka city, so they aren't selling it in our area.

It was 100 yen (about US$1) for a bottle.

Its name is "Honmaya". On one side of the bottle it says in English that "Honmaya is a word used by Osakans to express astonishment and surprise. Osaka Municipal Waterworks Bureau is proud to present their bottled water. Using an advanced water purification system with ozone and activated carbon, the quality of water in Osaka has reached excellency with a mild, sweet taste. Drink it, taste it and you too will exclaim, "Honmaya"!"

My interpretation of the phrase "honmaya" is that it is the same as how we use "for real" in Hawaii.

Am happy that their "english" on the side of the bottle was decent, sometimes you wonder what dictionary or spell check they use for things.

Dunno about a sweet mild taste though, it tastes...well, like water.

I'm glad they filtered it though because when it comes straight out of the tap it does sometimes tend to have a slight odor (ew!)...though I do love how they make it cute with the faucet picture and pink wrapping.

I'm also glad I tried this, though I realize that when disasters strike, saving the environment kinda gets put on hold...all these plastic bottles of water being sent to various parts of Japan...

Plus, I heard there is a shortage of the plastic caps for the bottles. The manufacturer is asking different beverage companies to order "white caps" instead of caps with logos or colors, the reason?

With the planned blackouts, it takes more time and fuel (electricity) to make them different colors or with logos because they have to start and stop the machines to meet the different orders...I guess in the end, if you can drink water from your tap, please do.