Cucumber-flavored Pepsi, just the thing to wash down that maraschino-cherry flavored sausage

In Japan, which is to soda flavors what petri dishes are to bacteria, the new flavor this summer is Pepsi Ice Cucumber. But you shouldn’t be too frightened by this mix of cucumber and cola. Why?

 The soft drink, which hit stores here on Tuesday, doesn’t actually have any cucumber in it — but has been artificially flavored to resemble “the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber,” said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan’s Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.

Soda marketing in Japan is truly a wondrous thing to behold. Japanese consumers expect novelty and they get it. So new flavors and brands are introduced continually. It’s like watching evolution powered by crystal-meth. Try a refreshing glass of Pocari Sweat. I have. It’s not bad. And that is actually all I remember of what it tasted like.