I am not a fan of perfume, but I also don’t like to be all stinky. Well, leave it to the Japanese to come up with a solution. Kanebo Foods’ Fuwarinka gum supposedly makes a pleasant odor emanate from the gum chewer. The gum comes in two flavors, fruity rose and fresh citrus. Basically, you chew the gum, and about 30 minutes later, the lovely scents of rose or vanilla seep out of your pores for a reported six hours!
I picked up some in the citrus flavor on a recent trip to Japan. I couldn’t find the gum anywhere in Tokyo, but I did hunt some down in Osaka! Each piece is pretty tiny. After I popped it into my mouth, the first thing that struck me was its hardness. Usually gum is pretty soft and pliable, but the Fuwarinka gum is kind of hard, the texture somewhat akin to one of those chalky butter mints (which I usually suck, but sometimes you just want to bite into them). Once you chew the gum into submission, though, it softens up and acts like regular gum.
The citrus flavor wasn’t terribly strong, and there was a hint of mint. The flavor didn’t last very long, I’m sad to say, and after a few minutes of chewing, it made me kind of want to throw up (I must confess, though, that I am not much of a gum chewer). I spit it out after about five minutes, which may have counteracted the gum’s efficacy. Still, I kept thinking I could smell citrus, but that’s probably because the pack of gum was sitting right next to me on my desk.
Buy Japanese gum online:
The idea of this gum sounds odd, but then I thought of the many times people told me I smell good, and it was actually my gum they were smelling. XD
January 19th, 2007 at 3:59 amCan someone, please, really review this gunk?
September 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am