Season 10, Episode 21: A Warm Light in a Cold Place (Patreon)

This week on MSB: Victory Gundam episode 21, the possible significance of lemonade, and a wide-ranging discussion that touches on Tassilo vs. Jinn, Marbet vs. Junko, Odelo vs. Masculinity, and Uso vs. a classic right of passage for Gundam protagonists.

Please listen to it!

Show Notes

• The history of lemonade (レモネード) on Japanese Wikipedia, as part of the Britannica page on soft drinks, and in this article by Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian Magazine's April/May 2024 issue, "How Kids Cornered the Market on Lemonade."

• The history of lemons in Japan, from Japanese Wikipedia, the Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd website (ポッカサッポロフード&ドバレッジ株式会社), and the Ito Noen (伊藤農園, a company specializing in local Japanese cultivation of citrus, and the manufacture of citrus-based products) website.

• Ramune History: So. Many. Pages.

  • History of ramune (ラムネ) on English Wikipedia and Japanese Wikipedia.

    • And the Wikipedia page for the Codd-neck bottle.

  • Kotobank's definition of ラムネ/ramune (includes a brief summary of the history).

  • Ashcraft, Brian. “The History of Ramune, Japan’s National Soda.” Kotaku, 20 May 2020, kotaku.com/the-history-of-ramune-japans-national-soda-1843559594. 

  • Industry pages:

    • Hata Kosen (ハタ鉱泉), a soft drink manufacturing and sales company, has pages in Japanese and machine-translated to English: 「ラムネの歴史」 and "The History of Ramune."

    • Kurashiki Kousen (倉敷鉱泉), has a page 「ラムネのお話」, or "Ramune Story."

    • The National Soft Drink Cooperative Association (全国清涼飲料協同組合連合会) and The National Soft Drink Manufacturing Union Association (全国清涼飲料工業組合連合会) (rough translations of these org names) website divides its ramune info pages into: 歴史 (history), 秘密 (secret), and 雑学 (miscellaneous knowledge).

      • They also host this page with images of various brands of ramune, sorted by region.

    • Tonbow Beverage's (トンボ飲料) ramune page.

    • Tobikiri (トビキリ) also has a ramune page (information included is very brief; the page is mostly a product listing).

      • Product page for Tobikiri's 大和ラムネ (Yamato Ramune) - the label of which depicts the Battleship Yamato (built at the Kure Naval Arsenal, in the same city where Tobikiri is based). The page also describes this specific ramune as replicating the flavor of ramune made on large naval vessels.

  • This post from the World Kigo Database ('kigo' being the seasonal words and phrases used in traditional Japanese poetry, of which 'ramune' is one), published by Dr. Gabi Greve of the Daruma Museum on June 18, 2008, contains images of different brands and flavors of ramune (including some of the... odder flavors), and mentions that ramune's popularity with the Imperial Navy during WWII increased its popularity with civilians at home.

• A Morinaga Confectionery (森永製菓) ramune television advertisement from 1993.

• Hachimitsu Remon

  • Japanese Wikipedia page for はちみつレモン (Hachimitsu Remon / Honey Lemon).

  • An article from J-Cast Trend news site, published April 4, 2010, about the original popularity of hachimitsu remon and the results of the poll that asked various adults what old products they'd like to see revived.

  • And an article from Nihon Keizai Shinbun (日本経済新聞, aka Nikkei), September 8, 2011, about the success of the original Suntory Hachimitsu Remon, and the product's revival.

  • Suntory Hachimitsu Remon Ads:

    • The (as I've termed them) "3 Women" Hachimitsu Remon ads: hiking, dancing, golfing, at a summer festival, and snorkeling. Fair warning! The jingle is a real ear-worm.

    • The ad of kids talking about more "grown up" things that want to do.

• Full details on Bandai's trademark registration for 「はちみつレモン」 (hachimitsu remon).

Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.

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