Ukon
Many people may not realise that Japan is actually not as reserved as you might think – alcohol is a massive social lubricant and pretty much everyone will have a glass of something if there’s an event on. Combined with legal public drinking 24 hours a day and beer vending machines scattered around the place, you could imagine just how often you’ll see someone with a can of something in their hand – even at 8am.
So, with alcohol comes hangovers – the price you pay for getting a bit battered – and while we in the Western world have our own black-magic cures of hair-of-the-dog, or aspirin crushed up into a peanut butter sandwich, in Japan, they’ve gone for the “health shot” option, in the shape of Ukon.
Costing roughly about 250Y, they’re mostly tumeric plus a few other elements to help keep things happy, internally. Tumeric is well known as a liver cleanser and the theory is that if your liver is being kept happy by the Ukon’s tumeric, then it’ll more easily deal with the alcohol you’ve been forcing down your mouth.
I’m not a doctor, I don’t know how true that is, but I do know from personal experience that these things work – and no, I didn’t drink a couple of litres of water as most people do when “testing” a hangover cure. I have two of these on a night out – one just before or with the first drink, and then I have another one at about the 6-8 drink mark or roughly half way through the night. The next day, I’m a bit dizzy but for the most part, I’m fine.
Some people have had limited success with the Ukon though and they really don’t taste very nice (although I kinda like them now), but they’re perfectly healthy and they certainly won’t hurt you.
And if you really want avoid a hangover, drink lots of water and have an aspirin-peanut-butter sandwich.
Cost: 250y.
Availability: Year round.
