Just like Korea and fan death.

OMG!!! Thats totally my favorite!! hahaha

so....they gave you an energy drink

Ahhhhh yes. And I love how some people take this as license to defend herbal remedies on the grounds of cultural sensitivity - because a certain remedy is popular in Asia, they dismiss skeptics as ethnocentric or racist.

Even though, you know... there are also plenty of skeptics in Asia trying to promote science-based medicine, on the grounds that they deserve medicine that works :)

yeah, kind of sad that too many people turn to medicine that doesn't really do anything. Whenever I go there- I inevitably come down with something, (usually from food) but there's not much available that is REAL. As a westerner its... insane.

Not all herbal remedies are placebo. Just ask anyone in California.

I dunno, I'm skeptical - I might have to perform some controlled trials to verify that claim ;)

please do! don't forget to check for existing research on the topic~

I woke up with a hangover every day that I stayed with my brother in Osaka.
A few doors down from his building was a vending machine that sold nothing but those genki drinks.
Most of those drinks are popular because they're full of the goodness of nicotine, but since I'm not a smoker I picked the one brand that contain any (or at least didn't admit it... it was called "Real Gold").

And... it WORKED. Every time. Bam, hangover GONE!

So hey, I can't explain this anecdotal evidence, and I don't think they'd work on a cold, but at least in my experience they are little brown bottles of magic.

(but not medicine)

Oh yeah well.. have to agree with that.

Asian medicine is known to make use of the placebo effect to heal. So don't worry if there's nothing in there.. if it works, then you're good.

Oh wow! That was pretty great as a commercial though, haha.

Yeah, humans see patterns in places that don't have any all the time. Take for example other primitive ideas where they would take someone with a fever and make then fast. ~_~

I wrote something philosophical and ponderous, but after reading it I couldn't even figure out what I was trying to get at. Sweet commercial, regardless.

You bring up a very good point that I probably wouldn't have thought of myself. Should I travel to Japan, I should bring a copious supply of prescription painkillers. As a westerner I am used to pills as a quick temporary remedy, and I don't think I could cope with being advised to drink Pocari Sweat twice daily.