Nurturing my inner... drinking game

The Japanese are quite clever when it comes to electronics and architecture, but I would argue that their clever innovation bubbles right on over to their carbonated beverage bottling.  Shirakiku Ramune Drink.  (Uh, I don't know what any of that means.)

I'm not a big soda drinker.  (Though I can't resist a Vanilla Coke from time to time.)  The reason I bought these sodas the other day at World Market was because of the flavors.  One was lychee and the other was melon.  (I love anything lychee flavored from gummies to mini gelatin cups.  And who has ever had a melon-flavored soda?  Please.  You know I had no choice but to try it.)  However, when I took off the wrapper, I was met with something quite unexpected.

Yeah, the only words I could read were
"carbonated" and "melon." That seemed safe.
What the rest said, who knows!

I had no idea the clever contraption this soda top encapsulated.  (Who could?  I have never seen such a thing in all my bottled drink imbibing years.)

View from one side, skinny. Wonder what for.

The neck of the bottle, instead of being a straight, open cylinder, was pinched.  At the time of purchase, I just thought it was an interesting visual design.  Something artistic or pretty.  Not that it had an actual, practical function.  (Not that this concept was practical in any way.)

Must have been hard
to create this shape
at the factory.

When I removed the plastic, there was this odd little contraption inside.  The instructions said to snap the plunger out of the ring.  (Mmm, alright.)

Never saw anything like this before.

Uh, do you see the top of that bottle?  It's not actually open.  There is a marble on top, sealing it shut.  Tightly.

How wild is that!! AND, how'd they get
that in there? (Where's a youtube demo
video when you need one?)

Next step said to put the plunger on top of the marble and push it down.  (As if that sounded like something very ordinary that you do every day when opening a bottle of soda.)

Admittedly it took a little effort. Or, I'm
just a complete weakling. (Probably that.)

If you try one of these, I suggest you lean into it.  Once you give it the right amount of firm pressure, you will hear a suction noise and a *tink.*  That will be the seal being released and the marble dropping to be caught in that pinched part of the glass bottle neck.  (Ah, that's why it was designed that way!  Now I get it.  Sort of.)

And there it is: the marble stopper. With
carbonation bubbles all clinging to it.

The soda was light, sweet and fruity.  I liked the lychee and have yet to try the melon.  Sure, the whole experience was a bit bizarre.  (Really, how could it not be.  A marble in your soda?  Think about it.)  But that's half the fun of trying something new.  The peculiarity of it.  I will tell you that when you turn up the bottle to drink, the marble does tend to go back up in the opening and block it some.  So it can be a bit tricky to maneuver to get the soda out.  But it's kind of like a game. Tip up, sip quickly, tip down.  Might as well enjoy the fun!  (Still trying to figure out how to get that darn marble out of the bottle!)