This is part 2.. I really did make a lot of trips to supermarkets and convenience stores..

Alinamin F

Vitamin B1 and B12. If your body feels tired when you haven’t done anything, it’s usually because you’re short on B vitamins. Apparently the more you overeat, the more B vitamins you run out of. That’s why they say it’s better to eat lightly as you get older. I went to a clinic and got a prescription, and that makes the pills very cheap. Sounds like you can’t do that in Korea.. I took them for about a month and they worked so well that I started buying a multivitamin from the US instead, and since then I haven’t had any fatigue-related problems.

Donbei Udon, Seafood Champon

Some say Japan is just copying Korea, but Japanese convenience stores have always been developing new products. All sorts of things you’ve never seen or heard of keep coming out, and some of them happen to be influenced by Korea — I’m curious how it will play out in the long run.

Usukawa Choco Pan

The chocolate was so rich that it was just okay for me, I think.

Tokunou Orange

There’s enough juice in it to actually taste concentrated, and it’s fully carbonated, so just dropping in some ice turns it straight into a squash. I drank it very happily.

Tokunou Grape

The grape is good too. Although as this series keeps going, I get the feeling the quality has been slipping..

Saikyo Donbei Soba, Everything Is the Star

A premium Donbei that costs about twice as much as the regular one has come out. I found it by chance and bought it, and it’s really good. At this level it beats a cheap soba shop, doesn’t it?

Menshokunin Setouchi Lemon Tori Shio

The name means “noodle master,” and it uses non-fried noodles, which gives it a distinctive taste. Even though the noodles are thin, they’re light with a nice chew, I suppose you’d say.. The lemon chicken-salt ramen had a refreshing flavour that’s perfect for summer.

Menshokunin Shio Koji Rich Miso

Every Menshokunin cup noodle has good noodles. I think it’s because they aren’t ordinary wheat flour and have a bit more spring to them. The broth also seems to be matched to a style that suits the noodles.

Hakkaisan’s Amasake

I spotted it at the supermarket and bought it, and it’s a step up from ordinary amazake. But I do find myself thinking, is it really worth it?..

Ruby Lemonade

I bought it because it’s from Mitsuya, but this one was just okay.

Hakata Ramen Benten

It was in the Aeon mall so I ate there often, and these days even chains like this are pretty good. But it shut down not long after.. and Gyu-Kaku moved into the spot..

Super Menthol Throat Lozenges

My nose gets blocked now and then, and mint lozenges like these do the trick.

Moldex Earplugs

I’ve tried all sorts of earplugs and these are the comfortable ones. In winter I can wear noise-cancelling headphones, but in summer that’s rough, so I’ve been testing this and that, and these are seriously comfortable. Great for getting your focus up at work.

Silicone Earplugs

Not great. They don’t fit the shape of my ear properly. It varies from person to person, but my ears are a bit unusual..

Earplugs

These didn’t fit my ears well either..

Mack’s Earplugs

These were really good. You pinch off a piece of the clay-like putty, mould it to your ear, and you’re done. The catch is that they’re disposable, but I don’t think any earplug fits the ear better than this. The one real problem is that if you don’t handle the used ones properly, they stick fast to something and make a mess of your room. So these days I mostly use Moldex..

Multivitamin

I ordered them online to look after my health.. about 20,000 won a bottle? There are 120 capsules in it, so that works out to around 10,000 won a month, and if that’s enough to look after my health it doesn’t seem bad at all. Water-soluble vitamins in particular are a problem if you’re short on them, but not much of a problem if you have too much.. and yet there are plenty of products that pointlessly crank up the vitamin content and charge a fortune for it. I think you’re fine as long as you dodge those and buy something with reasonable value for money. Especially for people living alone whose daily meals end up lopsided, I think taking a multivitamin is a good idea. No matter how hard you try, it’s hard to eat varied enough on your own to cover every vitamin and mineral.

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